


Know The World By Heart

by Ncj700



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean lance, Arranged Marriage, Blood, Bytor Shiro, Communication, F/M, Family, Galra Keith, Human Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Mentions of Violence, Pregnancy, Sexual Themes, culture clash, mentions of labour, voluntary battle to the death, voluntary sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 14:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20084017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ncj700/pseuds/Ncj700
Summary: Katie Holt’s career brought her to her husband, and for years she ignored the reality that had been put forth from the day she signed the treaty; one day, Keith would fight in the Kral Zera, in Victory or Death.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My Piece for the Kidge Roads Untraveled Zine! It has been an amazing experience to work with so many talented artists and writers! Thank you so much to the mods who handled everything and helped to bring this Zine to life! I'm very grateful to have been given the chance to participate as a contributor! This was my first time writing something for a Zine, and i really really enjoyed coming up with this AU.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy! I've created a collection for any other Kidge Zine stories out there, and will add them as I find them following the lift on publishing works!

Katie Holt’s interest in space had come from her family. Her father had worked on the development of Rift-Closure Lasers with several other aliens from Altea and Olkarion, but until she saw one in use against the massive universal distortion that threatened all planets, she hadn’t really understood what it meant. 

After she watched an RC-Laser close the tear closest to Earth, she was fascinated. What started her interest in Galra technology was a video about replicators. 

It was when she was eight years old, and had already entered Garrison pre-training, and they were being given a different lesson on environmental technologies. The replicators functioned much the same as the ones on the Atlas ships, MFE Jets, and Hesperides Rovers. The Galra had used it for something else though - to replicate green spaces and mineral material in high security rooms they used on their command stations for growing food. 

It had never occurred to her that there might be a race that lived completely in space, with no home world to return to, but that day she learned, and at , thought of living in space without bugs and dirt or pollen allergies sounded like utter bliss. 

Ten years later, now a Commander and communications officer working towards her next deep space mission at the Garrison, specialising in Galran and Altean linguistics and technological merging, it was still one of her favourite parts of space travel. It was also when the Galran Empire began their trade negotiations with Terra.

Age had never been something that had held her back, and she had broken Captain Shirogane’s for the youngest commander to join a deep space mission (something he’d been immensely proud of her for). She was the best recruit of her generation, and one of the best communications specialists on Terra’s interstellar programme.

She had never not been able to do her job, even under intense pressure accrued by the most dangerous of analytical missions amongst the rifts. Her technological and communications skills had earned her a place on the Garrison’s flagship, the newly commissioned Gaia-VII, and her skills in combat had also earned her several early promotions ahead of her classmates.

So it had been unusual for her to hesitate when the distress call came from the Brodar Fleet Command Ship during a reconnaissance and survey mission in a section of space where tears from the rift had begun to appear, but it was the lead-up to the mission that had caused her brief delay, and had involved the highly anticipated trade negotiations.

The process had been anticipated by both planets for several years, but up till that point actual progress towards the desired alliance was small, for very simple reasons. The Galran culture was formulated around two words that helped them survive as a race without a planet for ten thousand years, Vrepit Sa, a phrase that encompassed their mind-set and beliefs.

Concerning the phrase, it didn’t translate exactly into one meaning, but the most common interpretation was ‘_ Victory or Death _ ’. The beliefs of different Galran clans, and then the different political factions, altered this slightly - for House Marmora, the translation was closer to ‘ _ Knowledge _’, for example - but the root of the words, according to Katie’s research on the largest spacefaring race in existence, remained the same.

It almost sounded defeatist, but while the words were still archaic even by the standards of the race they were born from, they remained, which by itself might be a true testament to their value in Galran culture. It was the belief that one must put everything of themselves into their lives, whatever aspect of their life that may be. It was absolute perfectionism, combined with a militaristic culture that called no longer called any planet home. 

The Galra lived on their warships on the fringes of space, on the front lines of a universal battle against the rift that had destroyed their original homeward. Fighting was, therefore, a part of their politics that prevailed from the Battle of Vrepit Sa, millenia ago, when they were nothing more than nomads on the planet Daibazaal.

That was where the problem laid, and it was one the Galra were not unfamiliar with when it came to international treaties. While battles to the death and gladiator pits were still common and even popular, respected and honoured amongst Galra citizens, Imperial Command was more than aware that their ways were seen as slightly barbaric by some planets without similar cultures.

They were willing to negotiate, however. Terra’s resources were of interest to them, especially in terms of food, plants, and animals - something of a luxury given the Galra mostly lived in space, and sustained themselves on processed food goo, and didn’t have the room for farms or many pets as other cultures did - and technological advancements that had proven effective against the rift entities the Galra were frequently exposed to. They did of course have their own defences against the rift entities, but knowledge shared was always knowledge gained.

They knew a different arrangement had to be made, and were willing to work towards one that Terra was also content with. It was a plus that the Emperor’s daughter had already married a Terran, and the match had been popular with the people. It made the trade agreement more appealing to the general populace. Princess Krolia’s marriage had been the bones of the project, and now twenty-three years later, it was bearing its fruit. Katie just hadn’t expected it to be literally, or to involve her.

She had been at home, half-dressed in pyjamas and probably needing to wash her hair instead of mashing the crap out of her game controller, making the most of her rare day off when the documentation from the Garrison arrived. 

She was reading it over when the news broke, one of the reporters live at the Galran Command station, and hundreds in the newsroom at the Galaxy Garrison headquarters. Conditions had been met and agreed to between Emperor Kolivan and the Generals Committee.

It taken her a few moments to get her mind around the report passed along by Shiro, and then to take her time on the attached message with the original Galran agreement too, just to make sure she wasn’t losing anything within the translation.

An arranged marriage into the Imperial family. That was the long and the short of it, though there had been conditions added by both negotiating parties, and it was still subject to negotiation from the candidates themselves.

Any candidate had to volunteer of their own volition, and the end agreement must be agreed by both parties, though second thoughts would have no impact on the status of the trade deal. Should they change their minds after the union, separation remained an option, and there were no requirements for any children.

The Garrison had imposed age limitations, and the Galra were apparently not willing to marry off one of their Emperor’s grandchildren to someone without a suitable education level or some military rank, which was understandable.

While there was always a chance for someone else to interrupt the line of succession amongst the Galra, the Imperial line had been unbroken for ten thousand years, and from her own work with the Galra, Katie knew that they were highly regarded. They led their ships, and were not figureheads to cut ribbons. They all went through military training, and only those who earned the cut received their full titles upon reaching adulthood. The Galran beliefs in absolute strength from all included their royalty, and when they failed, no exceptions were made. To do so would undermine their entire concept of survival.

There was no chance that the Galra would put one of their potential leaders into a match up where they weren’t on the same level with their prospective partner. Rather than being primitive or archaic, it was a necessity. As one of the specialists on Galra technology and linguistics, Katie had met the Princess Krolia, and her sisters, several times, and had seen her input first hand. Unless the partner currently hypothesized was used to high degrees of military lifestyles or academic precision and their stresses, they would likely not be able to keep up.

Which meant this message would only have been sent out to those who met very specific criteria. Probably a few scientists, fighter pilots, and of course, Garrison personnel. Terra didn’t have a formal leader for the planet. Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Kings and Queens had died away with land borders decaphoebs ago after the culmination of World War III. So, the information would only have been sent out to those with the closest match to the restrictions the Galran ambassador had applied to the applicant process.

She checked the list and raised an eyebrow. Language and technology fluency were non-negotiable, and a high aptitude and experience level with space travel was greatly recommended, as well as combat experience. Military experience was recommended, or high academic knowledge. Both were preferable, but were negotiable.

After several weeks of debate and mulling the idea over, Katie submitted her application.

She was the foremost expert on Galran technology on Terra, and whatever the circumstances, this was her chance to live with it. The fact that she might have to get married was a secondary concern. After a few more weeks for other people to apply, she was called to a meeting with Admiral Sanda and the Generals, along with the Galran ambassador, Thace.

‘_ Commander Holt, _ ’ he’d greeted with a salute, one Katie returned to the former Admiral. ‘ _ Emperor Kolivan has reviewed the applicants to the alliance union, and has asked me to clarify whether or not you are happy to follow through onto the next steps of the process? _’

The Emperor had reviewed the applicants, and she had been their prime choice. She agreed.

* * *

I originally began this story after listening to '_Roads Untraveled_' by Linking Park and '_This is My Idea_' from the Swan Princess soundtrack. The idea morphed significantly but I'm really pleased with the outcome! Though as usual I got too carried away with my own imagination, and fitting a section of this into my word limit was a CHALLENGE™. As such, the rest of the story will be in the upcoming chapters rather than the one-shot :)

This was also a collaboration with [Luce-Ciel](https://luce-ciel.tumblr.com/) and [Artsy-Oleander](https://artsy-oleander.tumblr.com/), who both drew some amazing artwork for a few scenes, which I'll be linking as appropriate in the upcoming sections!


	2. Chapter 2

As Keith flicked through his data pad, refreshing his mind with updates on politics, some homeward and some inter-planetary, he let his thoughts meander to the event they had not long left, returning to the Warship they had arrived on.

Returning to orbit had been as unsettling as it always was. Terra had the technology for smoother transitions for taking people back and forth to its space ports, but it was also pragmatic, and liked to test some of its sustainable fuel cells in rockets. It was a good idea, but it meant launches and flights back to orbit that made his fur stand on end.

Terran weddings were noisy, colourful affairs with a multitude of different events which included pulling frilly belts off of people’s legs with their teeth, lots of dancing, long speeches that surprisingly weren't boring, and one thing that apparently never changed between planets–family drama.

Perhaps Keith’s favourite part of it all however, was Terran food. His visits to Terra had been scant and far between, some distant memories now. He didn’t remember much about them besides that he’d enjoyed the food of his father’s home world. Many of these customs had been included in his own some years previously, but at the time he hadn’t had much chance given to fully appreciate them. Now, only obligated to congratulate his friends, and say some words to make people laugh, he had the chance to.

It was a pity they couldn’t stay for longer than the after party. It was early morning on Terran Space Time, and Keith didn’t even want to think about the equations he’d need to work out just how long the shuttle back to Daibazaal would take, or which of its suns would be up when they arrived. 

“Keith? What are you reading?”

He looked up from his data pad to Katie, who was giving him that ‘_ that’s where you went _’ look, from the bathroom. She was standing in her undergarments, having shed her party clothes, doing some last checks in the mirror before she donned her armorsuit again.

“One of the documents from the Archivist regarding the entry applications for the Kral Zera. There’s some time before they open, and the requirements have been announced as a precursor.” 

Katie made a face. “I thought you knew those inside out already? Or did they change?” She asked a little snappily.

“No, they haven’t changed since our tribal days on Daibazaal. I just wanted to check again,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her. “Is everything alright?”

Katie let out a breath and pinched between her brows with one hand. “My parents are going to be a little late getting here, traffic and crazy camera people. Could you let the Sub-Commander know and look in on the boys? I have to check in with the Garrison before we leave, that hail-call with Iverson in ten minutes.”

“They’re good. Daiyak got them down as soon as they came up earlier, I checked with her when we got on board,” he said getting to his feet and deactivating the pad. “But I’ll go check again,” he promised, catching the slight frown on her face at the mention of the Daiyak.

Katie didn’t like it when they had to leave their kids in someone else’s care, but they were too young to stay up late at a long affair like a Terran wedding. Not to mention their work often meant they just wouldn’t be available at the necessary times. 

Keith had never been fond of Daiyak, but he’d never hated her either. She had been a good teacher in skills he’d never thought he’d need, and now found himself falling back on constantly. She might be old enough to have mentored his great-grandfather, the last Blood-Emperor, Lotor, but she did her job as required. Katie wouldn’t have trusted her with the care of their children if she objected that much, and she had been indispensable when both boys were born, working with them both to learn the needs of Terran infants, and put that knowledge beside her own experience with Galra kitlings. No, Daiyak wasn’t the issue. 

Interstellar travel however, was a different matter when it came to children. The boys were old enough that they would miss their parents if left behind, and needed to start getting used to crowds that came with royalty’s constraints. They were young enough that it was still too much though, and Keith knew he hadn’t been happy bringing them along either. At least Shiro’s kids had been around to keep them all entertained until they tired themselves out.

“Thank you,” Katie breathed, shoulders relaxing as she turned back to the morro, re-fixing her hair from its complicated style to a practical one for her meeting with Terran space command.

Pulling out of his own formal wear, Keith followed her through, stepping into the shower as she removed the heavier, formal makeup she was wearing in favour of her usual, fresh, bright unpainted face, the smile lines on her cheeks were faint, and ‘_ crows feet _’ just creeping into the corners of her eyes, but she as much herself as she always did. 

“Why did everyone get excited when Lance caught the bouquet?” He asked, poking his head around the shower frame after puzzling over his thoughts on the wedding for a moment.

“What?” Katie blinked, looking up. She had finished removing the make-up, and was starting to wash away some of the strange products she’d used to style her hair earlier. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening - what did you say?”

“The flowers,” he reminded. “Shay threw them, and Lance caught them. All the Terrans got excited and started congratulating him, and when Hunk pulled the little frilly belt off of Shay’s leg and threw it at Acxa, people got loud too.”

“Oh! It a superstition. Whoever catches the bouquet or garter is supposed to be the next one to get married. It’s considered good luck, mostly,” she explained, rubbing a towel over her hair to remove the damp then brushing it through back to its usual short style. “We didn’t have either of them at our wedding because they were some of the traditions I was happy with them throwing out for something Galra. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of you pulling a bit of lingerie off my leg when we’d only met in person a handful of times. And the Daibazaal Gardens had given us the gemstone trees instead of flowers for the whole thing so throwing a bunch of semi-precious rocks at someone sounded more like a safety hazard than something romantic,” she added. “Not to mention it was better for my allergies.”

Keith nodded in understanding. “I don’t think I would have enjoyed that either,” he admitted. “I understand the function, but at the same time the idea of clothing to be worn for mating, when clothing is usually not required, baffles me.”

Katie stopped, and grinned impishly. “You’d have been mortified, wouldn’t you?”

“Completely,” Keith nodded, reaching for the towel she handed him as he stepped out of the shower and drying himself off before bending down and kissing her cheek. “Thank you for taking steps to spare us both that discomfort.”

“You’re welcome,” Katie laughed, leaning up and kissing him on the lips, her fingers scratching behind one of his ears. “Make sure you dry your fur off properly before going out onto the decks okay? Last time we were travelling and you did that, you had Yelmor Fever for three movements, and you’ll be shedding again soon.”

Keith thought about how he could avoid that reminder, then looked back at his partner, then at the timer on the wall. “Katie, do you know that your Hail-call meeting with Commander Iverson is in six dobashes and you have yet to put any clothing besides undergarments on?” he told her plainly.

Katie stared at him, then looked down at her lack of clothing, then let out a screech of undignified panic and raced to their wardrobe.

Leaving his frantic partner to her rushed dressing, Keith pulled on his own armour and stepped out of their bedroom and through a short, private hallway into their sons’, past the two Blades dutifully standing guard. 

Poking his head around the door he could see the two small lumps asleep on their beds, but ventured in anyway, pulling the blankets up to their chins. They were completely knocked out and content in dreamland.

Satisfied that they ought simply to be left to their dreams, Keith wandered along the hallways to the command bridge. Changed from his own ceremonial garb back to his normal uniform, Zandra brought her hand to her chest. “Sir, Are you here to authorise our take off?” she asked. 

“Unfortunately not,” Keith sighed. “The Princess’s family will be delayed in joining us as planned thanks to the commotion caused by Terran media,” he said to the Sub-Commander. “It might be another one or two movements.”

Zandra frowned, then sighed. “Regris was on communications relay this morning for the announcements,” she said, closing his eyes in search of strength. “I apologise; I was not aware they would be joining us today. I presume this is for part of the ARUS Initiative?”

Keith nodded. “Commander Holt and Matthew will be joining our team and the Altean delegation as part of the expedition. Since the Launch will be from the DDZ, and the site construction will be starting soon, it made sense to arrange their travel and cargo transport when we came for the ambassador’s wedding. You weren’t informed at all?” He frowned, ears flicking irritably.

“No, but it explains a good deal of confusion caused by the authorisation codes we received from the Galaxy Garrison earlier asking about cargo transport for heavy duty mechanical supplies,” Zandra said, pinching her nose. “Would you consider making a broadcast about this Sir? There have been arguments all day, and I feel that a direct command will set everyone on the right track. I also need to go find our newest recruit and give him _ another _lecture on the importance of exact wording when relaying Imperial orders…”

Keith nearly laughed, but settled for a brief snort instead. Despite his calm and patience with the newest recruits, this was actually a big problem, easily avoided too. Exactly the kind he hated.

As part of the research group that was going to investigate the rift that had been caused by Daibazaal’s destruction 10,000 years ago (at the hands of the 34th emperor), and had in recent years began to spread throughout the known universe, Katie’s brother and father were going to be joining some other advanced teams in a joint mission. He and Katie were also part of it.

It was absolutely imperative that all the Terran technology was properly stored and prepared for immediate unloading once they returned to the GCS, as preparations for the mission itself were already well underway.

Only, the communications officer had forgotten to tell anyone any of this. Regris was a second cousin who had just been drafted into the military ranks. He was young, but his coding and translation abilities were astounding. His short-term memory however, always left something of a bad taste in his senior officer’s mouth. 

Normally Keith would leave the ship in Zandra’s more than capable hands, but this time, he nodded his agreement. As Zandra left her duties temporarily to one of the lower officers, Keith wandered down to the command deck, quickly accessing the control panels and setting up the broadcast for the ship, as well as the smaller escort cruisers waiting in the Andromeda galaxy. 

Almost immediately, the screen was filled with several others focusing on the commanders of the escort ships, as they received the hail screen reserved for imperial broadcasts. After the salutes, he began.

“Commanders and Crew of the Brodar Fleet, this is a Command Ship broadcast; be advised that due to miscommunication, several orders have not been properly implemented…”

* * *

Another part. Sorry for the delay! Still trying to arrange an update schedule–I'm not used to queuing chapters so this a new experience XD

Also, if anyone has the time to fill out an interest form for another Kidge zine, you can find the link---->[here!](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd-AOBk1B2aicaDyVphNokzgWx7T9VyOynAWQdROJ4wQQCOoQ/viewform?usp=sf_link)


	3. Chapter 3

After Katie’s application for the treaty had been approved, things had progressed in a slow fashion. The Emperor’s grandson, Keith, was currently deployed in the Daibazaal Destruction Zone, the DDZ, right in the centre of rift infected space. 

She’d been told he was aware of the alliance, and had also been given his own input, but due to the telemetry discrepancies caused by the multiple space tears, it would be some time before any introductions could be made even over hail-call, let alone in person. His fleet had been in the area for ten decaphoebs, but was approaching the end of their voyage.

She’d been happy with that. Marriage aside she had her own career to think about, and her own deep space missions. The alliance progress had been outlined with the impression that it would take at least five years to begin with, so when the analyst mission arrived for the Gaia-VII, and she was recalled back to space herself, she spared no hesitation in her agreement.

They were three months into the six-month analysis trip when, above the telemetry of the rift itself and strange transmissions it often exuded, she found something else. She had been scanning for sound patterns to see if there were any consistencies with the appearance of space tears, but instead, the occurrences she detected turned out to be a distress beacon.

Alerting the Captain, she’d quickly found herself tracking the signal all the way to a nearby quadrant, directly in the route to the Galra Command System. A Galran warship fleet, and a brand-new rift the size of a very large asteroid, emerged onto the scanners, and as the ship began to move into a deep space jump Katie began her transmission.

“Galran Fleet, this is Commander Katie Holt, hailing from the Gaia-VII, to quadrant X56,” she said rapidly, automatically slipping into the Galran tongue and running several more scans on the area. She also started to triangulate the opening for their deep space jump. “We have received your distress beacon and are en-route to your location. Please verify your status.”

The whirr of the engines was quiet but insistent and persistent as Katie listened for a return transmission. 

“All stations prepare for deep space jump,” Shiro instructed, his eight hands reaching for the controllers and starting the jump already. “Activate Shawyer EM-Crystal Drive. Veronica, set shields to maximum. Iverson, weapons online. Katie, do you have any stats from the fleet?”

Katie couldn’t reply, too busy trying to tune into the response signal coming from the ship under attack.

“Galran fleet engaged in quadrant X56, this is Commander Katie Holt of the Gaia-VII. Please verify your status. We are en-route. Are you receiving?”

Finally, a distorted voice call made it through.

‘ _ Gaia-VII, your hail is received. This is Fleet Cruiser Beta-C. We are under heavy attack from rift entities, and have run out of suitable rift-closure projectiles following a long-term mission. Be advised of Terran Level 7 battle conditions, _ ’ a frantic voice said. ‘ _ Our crystal matrix is compromised, and we are preparing to deploy the cruiser into the rift to close it. We have heavy casualties and the fleet is being evacuated, but minor entities pose a threat to our pods. You are now being redirected to Brodar Fleet Command. Vrepit Sa. _ ’

“Vrepit Sa, Fleet Cruiser Beta-C. End communications,” she confirmed, shutting off the initial transmission and catching onto the replayed, private signal to the command ship with a rapid flex of her fingers over the control panel.

“We have confirmed communication with cruisers; Gaia-VII Crew prepare for Level 7 battle conditions. Unexpected rift activity has caused multiple rift entity releases from the quintessence field. Prepare RC-Lasers immediately. Currently linking to Brodar Fleet Command for full communications. Current area scans and telemetry are being uploaded now,” she said, still waiting for the signal to reach through to the command ship. “At least one cruiser has been compromised, and is being evacuated to close the rift directly using Galran self-destruct technology. Pods have been deployed, and minor entities are prevalent, Engineering, be aware of potential system blocks and heavy interference.”

The Brodar Fleet. Katie couldn’t help replaying the name of that fleet as she worked, and not because it was one of the fleets that was frequently sent into rift zones to use projectiles and force closures to the quintessence field. She’d heard it recently. Had she not needed to concentrate on her job, the familiarity would have bothered her.

“Atlas crews prepare for launch. MFE-Fighters prepare for launch,” Shiro called out. “Hesperides Rovers, prepare to be called into deployment following first phase launches for back up. Iverson, what’s the status on our rift closure projectiles coming online? Do you think we can save that Galra ship?”

“Relaying,” Katie confirmed, still frowning over her lapse in memory. “Orders received in docking bays 1-20. Re-attempting transmission.” 

“Negative Captain,” Commander Iverson replied quickly. “Our weapons are low, rift proximity is delaying matrix input. They will take some time to charge. We’ll be able to fend off some of the entities, but I need longer than a deep space jump to prepare an RCD.”

Wasn’t the Brodar fleet supposed to be… in the DDZ? Quickly checking some stamps and checking the locations of the DDZ, GCS, and the current location of the Brodar fleet, Katie could tell the path they were following from the last quadrant was directly in line with that.

“Approaching quadrant X56 in five, four, three, two-"

Shiro didn’t even get to say ‘ _ one _ ’ before the shields were hit by the blast of the rift’s radiation. Gritting her teeth as the pilots focused on getting out of the blast range and the Atlas ships launched, Katie finally had the transmission sequence for the command ship acquired. The link was picked up by the flagship, visible from the helm and surrounded by a mass of the black swirling masses that had come from the tear in space.

‘ _ This is Brodar Command, thank you for responding to our distress signal. Our communications system has been infected and our crystal matrixes are too overloaded to boost the emergency systems. We can hold them back for a few more vargas, but we can’t alert GCS about the proximity of the tear, _ ’ a young voice said.

“Brodar command, this is Gaia-VII receiving. Be advised that MFEs, Atlas ships and Hesperides Rovers are mid launch. With your permission, we can try to patch your communications array to our frequencies in order for you to warn GCS via our satellites. Our systems are unable to patch into the GCS network or do so directly from this distance, but we can relay your signal through our comms.”

‘ _ Permission granted, preparing data files collected of the rift entities from this particular emergence for transfer to your fighters and ships. Do not let the Gaia-VII engage directly. It seems to be drawn to higher sized crystal matrixes. We believe it has been following the fleet since we left the DDZ. _ ’

Pidge blinked as she processed that. So the Brodar Fleet had been in the DDZ after all. Why did that sound like it should be important? As she shook the niggle for information away (temporarily) she worked on the signals, trying to find enough of a pattern to connect a hail call through for Shiro.

‘ _ Do you have an estimation on time length till the frequency patch? _ ’ the Galran commander asked, his voice patchy.

The Captain could probably hear their conversation in his earpiece, but secondary information wasn't ideal in a battle scenario. They needed to be able to link to each other for information directly, not just send data dumps. She could work around the broken comms on the Brodar, she just needed a few more seconds...

The ship jostled as the Atlas ships and the MFEs blasted away, keeping the surge of rift entities from them and the damaged command ship not far away.

“Patching frequencies in five… four… three… two…”

With a final swipe on her screen, she managed to patch a hazy signal into the ship’s communication system. With it, came a visual comms link to the Brodar command ship.

‘ _ Gaia-VII, this Brodar command. Please confirm signal acquired. _ ’

“Signal acquired Brodar Command, this is Commander Katie Holt. Translation filters are active, and your message is being broadcast to the bridge. We have a strong signal for your alert. Permission to begin broadcast to GCS.”

The Galra on the screen was foreign to her, but the armour he wore identified him before Katie could entirely process just what it meant. Why the Brodar fleet sounded incredibly and unusually familiar to her.

He had large wide ears that faded into dark inky head fur, and large yellow eyes, with distinct irises and pupils. The rest of his fur from the back of his neck was fine, less dense with a healthy sheen even through the weak signal of the hail-call, and the light and dark coloured facial markings in his fur were clear.

Then it faded away, hidden behind the metal breastplates and tight inner suit worn by most active personnel. The colour, but for the purple main plate and long unkempt blue cloak - dishevelled likely from the ship’s fight with the rift entities - pinned to the shoulders, but the thing that caught her eye was the glowing light insignia burned into the front.

‘ _ You have my gratitude Commander; for a moment, we were convinced our signal was too weak for detection. My fleet is in your debt, _ ’ the Galra said simply. ‘ _ Captain Shirogane, if your MFE and Atlas ships have any rift closure devices, they would be very, very much appreciated. _ ’

“Iverson, weapons status?”

“Fully charged Captain, ready on your signal.”

The colours of his armour gave it away. The Brodar fleet wasn't just the one which often found itself in high-risk areas. It was also one of the fleets that was only under the command of imperial ranking soldiers. The Galra she was looking at had some sort of relation to the emperor.

“Then fire RCDs now,” Shiro said. “Katie, how’s that alert for GCS coming along?

As Iverson made his own orders out to the Atlas pilots, Katie found herself in a strange kind of stall as she tried to place the Galran fleet and its commander.

That sigil on his armour was one she had seen many times before, and it represented House Marmora. The current ruling Clan. The Emperor's close family. She couldn’t place his face, and so she turned her focus back to the warning she was trying to send to the Galran Command System.

“Brodar command, I need an identity confirmation to access the GCS signal system. Can you provide an access code?”

In all fairness, she had been so busy working she didn’t realise how ridiculous a question that was until a few moments later, when the commander awkwardly spoke.

' _ The… Brodar fleet has no access codes Commander. It uses my private channels to the main control hub, but if the connection is the problem and an identification is needed then I can transmit one of the imperial codes. It will give your message some priority on the signal relays, _ ’ the Galra said. 

As the signal came through, and Katie poured her eyes over the data from the code he’d transmitted, and she recognised it from some of the emails from the Galran Ambassador that were stacking up on her data pad, only one word came to mind.

“Katie?” Shiro prodded, anxious and insistent. “We’re going to need some back up here from GCS, have you processed the comm links?” He asked.

The emperor had no sons, and his daughters had abstained from seeking leadership of the Empire. His brother had died in the same Kral Zera that had elevated Emperor Kolivan into succession of their father, Lotor. There was only one direct member of the imperial family with enough rank to command this fleet.

The Galra on the video feed was Flight Commander Keith, Grandson of Emperor Kolivan, and Prince of House Marmora. Her proposed fiancé. Who she hadn’t recognised at all, even though he had the Emperor’s eyes, his markings were clearly the same ones as the Princess Krolia, and were as much an identification as his human irises. 

And she has been shown a picture of him. 

And seen his face in the Galra media.

“Fuck,” she choked, jerking herself out of her daze. “Sorry, code received, sending transmissions.”


	4. Chapter 4

‘ _ Commanders and Crew of the Brodar Fleet, this is a Command Ship broadcast; be advised that due to miscommunication, several orders have not been properly implemented. _ ’

Katie started, her gaze jerking out of her laptop keyboard where she had been napping as her husband’s voice filtered through the ship comms speakers. Looking around for one of the screens out of habit, she watched and listened to the projection, as she always did, letting the twang of familiarity soothe the unexpected wake up. 

Katie calculated that by the end of the broadcast’s third repetition, Keith would return to their quarters for a couple of hours before he started checking the individual decks, and had individual report meetings with the Sub-Commanders of the escort ships.

‘ _ In an effort to help facilitate the Arus Initiative, several cargo permits have been issued to all ships within the fleet, and the Command Ship will be hosting passage from Terra to the Galran Command System for Commander Samuel Holt and Lieutenant Matthew Holt of the Galaxy Garrison. Due to media discrepancies generated by our presence, we expect a two-three movement delay on launch from Terra. _ ’ 

She winced at the face Keith was making. Public appearances had never been his strong suit. He always looked angry when he had to do a broadcast. That said, it wasn’t the usual pinched look that came from discomfort this time, so he probably  _ was  _ angry, going by subject of the message. At least he had control of his ears this time - last time they’d been all over the place. Watching, she made a mental note to call the fur groomer - Keith would never call him of his own accord, and his fur really was starting to look clumpy. That was bad form when he had a reputation to maintain.

Keith’s fleet had a reputation for being fast and fluid in its responses and objectives, one he was very proud of. If something was delayed, she knew he’d be grumpy about it when he left the command deck. But looking the way parrots with ruffled feathers did made him look like an unpleasant sort of scoundrel rather than respectable.

‘ _ So as to avoid any future irresponsible discrepancies, all authorisation codes from the GCS are to be followed and enacted according to their exact orders, and to be observed as direct imperial commands. Failure to do so will result in immediate disciplinary action. _ ’

She winced again at the mention of miscommunications. Regris had forgotten something again. She loved the young trainee as much as Keith did - they were close in age and had been childhood companions, so Katie had made an effort to get to know him after the wedding–but he really wasn’t suited for communications shifts. Whoever managed the division of orders would hopefully learn that too.

If there was one thing she had learned most Galra couldn’t abide, it was lack of productivity and planning. The broadcast was probably a good thing though. Most of Galra culture was based on respect of strength and powerful leadership, and the angrier Keith looked the more it inspired his people’s loyalty. 

A good thing, since he’d be taking over central command one day, providing he fought well at the next Kral Zera, though she tried not to think about that dark spot in their marriage too much. It was getting closer. Kolivan was cutting the length of his public audiences and trusting more to his children and grandchildren than before, and with each day that passed, Katie found herself hoping her husband would remove the very thing he’d originally married her for in the first place from his dreams. She couldn’t bring herself to ask him that though.

Checking a few messages from her parents - informing her that the delays would be exactly as Keith had said, she flopped back in her desk chair, still only half dressed. She hadn’t been leaving the room, so in order to make her Hail-call on time, she’s had to pull on a uniform shirt instead of her armorsuit, forgoing anything for her bottom half besides underwear.

Iverson didn’t know that though, and their aides were done for the day, so nobody was there to see her giving lectures on Galra tech to advanced Garrison programming cadets only half dressed.

She was correct about Keith’s timing. After about five more minutes, the doors opened and he stepped back inside.

“So, are you sending Regris to the ship arena again? He’s been there six times this month already,” she asked, mildly amused but also concerned, getting to her feet as Keith bent down to give his usual greeting kiss on the cheek.

“I don’t think being returned to the pits is encouraging him much, he’s too good at fighting for it really. There’s a reason the Blades apprenticed him to my fleet, so I decided on something you mentioned from your training at the Garrison. He’ll be cleaning out the waste repositories for the six movements.” Keith said, stepping back again and staring at her in puzzlement. “Did you Hail-call Iverson like that?”

“What Iverson doesn’t know makes me look like a fully functioning Terran,” she shrugged, stretching in her chair and giving her report one last look. It would have to do, after she’d removed the mashed words and grammar errors caused by her face sleeping on the keyboard of course. 

She still had something to work on for Keith’s grandfather before the upcoming Arus mission too, and while she had been hoping to start tonight, there was nothing she could do before her father and brother arrived, which meant she had some time.

“How long before you have to go meet with the escort fleet commanders?” She asked, leaning back again, this time sticking her feet up on her desk, socks and all. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“The reports aren’t due for another sixteen vargas, so I have plenty of time,” Keith said, pulling off his chest plate and collapsing onto one of the sofas. “What is it?” He asked, tone curious as she followed and leaned up beside him until he automatically pulled her close.

“I wanted to know how you’d feel about another baby,” she said, watching his ears perk up in a mix of shock and excitement. His nose was flexing, testing her scent.

“Are you carrying?” He asked, anxiously excited.

“No, I’m still taking my pills, but I’d really like another,” she said honestly. She wasn’t the blatantly maternal type (not to mention she absolutely  _ loathed _ being pregnant) but she loved her kids more than anything, and liked the idea of more. Not too many–giving birth had been difficult the last time–but she was sure she wanted at least one more.

“I... As long as you’re safe, you know I would be happy with any number of children you wished for,” Keith said simply, his voice quiet, and she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

Indeed, she did know. Aeons in space had its effects on any species and the Galra were not immune. In some ways, they had grown stronger but in others, less so. Most Galra struggled now to carry even one child to term besides those with inter-xenical unions like theirs, or without some alien ancestry in their make-up.

It was why she had to broach a third with Keith carefully. Half-Terran he might be, but his Galra side was dominant, and he’d been raised with their perceptions. He had been terrified when she revealed she was pregnant a second time, since most second pregnancies meant life threatening complications for parent and child, and pleaded with her to abort until the doctors explained to him that her Terran body was much, much better equipped for childbirth than a Galra one, and there was no risk to her health in having multiple children.

He’d very quickly changed his tune, and the brief potential dark spot disappeared before it could even leave a smear on their relationship. They had both learned from it and during the pregnancy, she’d been mindful of his worry. Keith in turn had been ecstatic, and done his best not to smother her with concern when she so much as sneezed.

It had certainly increased her own popularity amongst the Galran people. While it hadn’t been bad to begin, the emperor had explained that the idea of multiple children was something the majority of his people dreamed of, a dream based in history, and seeing it happen gave them hope that one day, they might do so again too. Katie didn’t really see it that way, but when even Kolivan looked at her with a kind of hopeful proud look, she figured she had done something right. It certainly explained all the excited presents she’d been given when she joined Keith on a few of his visits to the Sub-Systems most Galra now lived on when she was pregnant.

But now she had one simple reason for approaching him about the idea first, and it was very simple; she didn’t want to scare him like that again. His honest response eased her worries however.

"I’m glad,” she grinned, leaning up and kissing his jaw. Leading herself to his lips she slowly wrapped their hands together and pulled him off the sofa. 

After a moment, when Keith realised she was dragging him to their bedroom, his eyes were a little wider with surprise as he scooped her up with one arm. “Wait, now?” He asked, curious and surprised but not disinterested. 

“Between your meetings, and my family visiting, and all the prep for Arus it seemed like the best time. I’ll still need to get the supplements from Ulaz but I don’t see why we can't start,” Katie said, beaming as he flopped backwards, letting her land in tandem on top of him. “Ow, after you change though. No offence but your armour isn’t that comfortable, babe.” She grumbled, flopping to one side and rubbing the spot where the connection between his leg armour had pinched the skin on her inner thigh.

“That’s true, the return voyage is long and we will both be distracted upon arrival at the GCS,” he frowned, before leaning over, pulling her back into his arms and kissing her neck “We should proceed with your plan,” he finally agreed. “I like it.”

Laughing at his silent enthusiasm, Katie began helping him divest the pointy bodysuit from his person. Much as she appreciated him in it, it really was just getting in the way.


	5. Chapter 5

‘ _ Is there anything else I can help you with before our call ends Commander? _ ’

“I’d like to know a bit more about the contract in regard to children,” Katie said, frowning over her coffee dregs at the document the Galran Ambassador had sent her ahead of her first meeting with her new prospective fiancé.

The file was displayed on her laptop screen beside Thace’s familiar furry face, and she highlighted a section with a finger swipe, lighting up a section to indicate the part she was concerned over for him.

“What happens if we divorce? On Earth the child usually lives with their mother unless they’re old enough to understand and voice a preference, there are extenuating circumstances, or their mother is abusive, things like that,” she said. “If we decide to have children further down the line, and then divorce, doesn’t the fact that they would be members of the Galran imperial family cause some friction?”

‘ _ Ah, no, I’ve already discussed this with my nephew personally, and I’ve already started writing a secondary document to put forward to you and the Garrison. Should a child come into the question, then in the event of a divorce, it would be your right as long as you wanted to keep the child, with financial and emotional support as needed from the Empire. _ ’ Thace said simply, scratching beneath the spot where his glasses rubbed at his nose on the other of the hail-call. ‘ _ We would work with you to arrange visits and education and such, but I believe that the only prerequisite in that event would be that equal visitation opportunities were made available. As you know, our legal system is not in essence hereditary, so there is no idea that the child would need to stay in the empire for the reasons you mentioned. Unless they wanted to in later life, and by that point, they would not be a child. _ ’

“I think I’m following,” Katie nodded, sipping at her cup as she processed that information. 

This was the one and only aspect of the contract that made her uneasy. She wanted her own family, and while she knew that polyamory was common amongst the Galra–the emperor himself had three different partners, each with children–due to their fertility issues, she didn’t think that if the prince was opposed to children that having her own with someone else would be something she could do.

Hell, she didn’t even know if they would be possible. Not genetically–the prince was half human himself, and there was a Galra-human couple just down the road from her parents, so procreation was definitely possible–but rather she didn’t know if she would be able to develop the kind of relationship they’d have to have for that.

But she also loved her job, and was fascinated with Galra technology. She’d made her career around it, and this was a chance to live amongst it, permanently, and with a purpose. She’d made it clear early on to Thace that the idea of sitting around twiddling her thumbs wasn’t what she wanted from the treaty personally, and he’d been very patient.

Thankfully the Galra didn’t believe in wasting resources, and her brain had some renown. There were already in discussions with Iverson and Sanda about signing her into some of the Galra research and development teams. 

They were keen for her input on their Rift Closure tech, and a team was visiting to introduce her to their work and get her involved in some early stage projects as a trial when she visited the GCS again, for a more extended period.

The only problem with the visit was who was accompanying them. For some reason, the Prince, having put off the next Brodar Fleet’s mission, was also joining them. Aside from making a pleasant exchange a potentially stressful one which had prompted her to contact Thace for a bit of advice, it also made no sense.

She didn’t know much beyond what the file had given her, but she knew that space tech and science wasn’t his main focus. He knew basics, certainly, but he was a Fleet Commander, and generally worked in highly disturbed areas of rift activity or amongst other conflicts to the planets within the Voltron Alliance.

There was no reason for him to come before their first official meeting (which had originally been scheduled to take place in another two months), and to say it had thrown her for a loop was an understatement. Her staff on the satellite station had been feeling her wrath trying to prepare it for a sudden Imperial Visit they hadn’t been expecting, and Katie was low-key giving herself a heart attack with trying to prepare herself and refresh her memory on a few Galran civilities, just in case. 

She was fluent in the language, and an expert in the history, and knew more than the basics about their social habits and culture than anyone else on base, but she had panicked all the same.

“So, for now we could just say it would be a personal matter between the two of us, and not something the treaty would have any effect on?” she surmised, and Thace nodded.

‘ _ Indeed, _ ’ he said. ‘ _ As I mentioned, there is a document being drawn up regarding the subject, and they will be sent out to you shortly. If it’s of concern, I can push the staff to have it worked through first. _ ’

“If you could I would appreciate it…” Katie nodded, “I also wanted to ask about the clause about the Kral Zera?” She asked.

Thace’s expression became a little more serious.  _ ‘It is the only request my nephew has any immediate interest over, really. In most of the other clauses, he’s happy to defer to you, but entering the Kral Zera is a goal he had been preparing for since he completed our House Rites _ ,’ he explained. 

“What’s the basic gist of it? The translators didn’t give me the original Galran copy of the report and I want to be sure I understand that part.”

‘ _ In short, if the desire for separation occurs, and if a long time has passed, then it must take place after the ceremony, _ ’ Thace said. ‘ _ Unions are a requirement for those who wish to enter. It demonstrates an understanding of the burden they are competing for. The prince’s logic was that if he died during the ceremony, you would be separated anyway, so waiting would make little difference. In the meantime prior to it, you would each be provided with separate quarters etc. _ ’

Interesting, she hadn’t been aware her potential husband wanted to take over his grandfather’s throne. It begged the question of how that would impact her though.

“How much time?” She asked.

' _ Ten Terran years, _ ’ Thace said. ‘ _ Prior to that timescale, you would be free to do as you wished, but after that, he hopes to come to some form of arrangement, just in case the need arises. At that point, entrance preparations will have started, and the dissolution of your union would invalidate his application, _ ’ he said. ‘ _ For similar reasons, you will not have to take on Galran citizenship unless your marriage continues past the same event. The Garrison insisted on this, with your approval, but it is something I advise. _ ’

It was practical and political, and reasonable. If they managed to spend anything over ten years together, then she could understand why the prince wanted some reassurance if things went wrong. She would too. That was why she had a guarantee clause that ensured her rights to research and permanent placement on Galran rift research teams would not be affected by the same thing.

“I’ll have to double check it all if you can send me a copy of the original documents, but for now I understand. I’ll refrain from any further comment for now,” she said, glancing at the clock. “I’m afraid I need to leave. The delegation will arrive soon, and I want to be at the docking station in good time.”

Thace nodded. ‘ _ Of course, Commander. I will speak to you again at our next scheduled call. I have some details for the Kral Zera to go over with the Archivist, and I’d like to check my notes. _ ’

Katie blinked in shock. “So soon? But I thought the Emperor was still planning to wait a few more decades before he retired?” She asked. It was even in the contract that the Treaty process would be overseen to completion by the current ruler.

‘ _ Oh, it’s at least another decade off, but he likes to plan these things well in advance. Having the ceremony planned now saves a lot of the hassle, even if the Archivist is as congenial as a crusty tenor flobgom, in my mate’s words, _ ’ Thace sighed. ‘ _ I apologise again for not being there in person to assist with your meeting with the Prince, but I assure you he is well versed in Terran customs, and my daughter is his guard. If need be, she will be able to help buffer any questions you have. Good luck Katie, Vrepit Sa, _ ’ he said, giving her the formal salute.

“Vrepit Sa Thace.”

The call ended, and Katie got to her feet, smoothing the lines out of her uniform trousers. She looked as she usually did. Clean, pressed uniform, her boots had been polished, and her hair tied back in a neat ponytail. Nothing else. Out of the window, her home planet hovered below the space station. The European territories were coming into view already, and lo and behold, she could see the computer screen - set up to do so beforehand - catching the arrival transmission signals from a Galra fleet nearby.

Sitting with less poise at the edge of her desk and watching as the Galra ship came into clearer view, Katie went through everything the meeting would entail in her head. She reminded herself that this was just an introduction, and there was no guarantee that anything would come from it. There were seven meetings scheduled to see if she and the Emperor’s grandson were at the basest level, compatible, and this was simply the first. 

She had nothing to worry over. It wasn’t as though an interstellar treaty rested on her ability to make awkward small talk.

Mere seconds later a ping came through from the station bridge from one of the sergeants on the command deck to let her know that the Galran pod had already been dispatched. Mourning her lost moment of peace, Katie sent a small confirmation in reply, and then left her office, making her way through the decks to the docking bays, where Veronica and Shiro were already waiting.

“You’ll be fine,” Shiro said, putting a set of reassuring hands on her shoulder. “Nothing’s being decided this early, and the prince is fairly easy going.”

Katie offered him a smile. “I know, but I’ve never had to do much diplomacy.” 

“If you can run an interstellar communications satellite station, and still join deep-space missions, I think you can handle talking to Galran royalty, Commander,” Veronica said. “I mean, you talk to me all the time, and Shiro’s Right. Keith isn’t scary. Didn’t you speak to him when the Gaia-VII rescued the Brodar Fleet?”

“Yes, and despite numerous media and internal photos and more than enough contextual clues, I still had no idea who he was until he sent the imperial command codes.”

“Keith’s not the type of person to hold that against you, it was a stressful situation, and neither of you were expecting to meet so quickly,” Shiro said. “Or over hail-call during a rescue operation.”

Katie raised an eyebrow, turning her eyes from the screen monitoring the Pod’s approach, and the process of the Galran docking systems combining into rotation on the landing bay below.

“You know him?” She asked. “You’ve never mentioned that before.”

“We met when I went to the GCS for my off-world training years, before I got promoted from my home world onto the Gaia command ships. Keith was my bunkmate when I worked on the Vrig Fleet. I think he was a lieutenant then. He’s practical, but reasonable. Bit of a hot temper sometimes, but I think you’ll be okay as far as general amiability goes. After that is up to you.”

Katie hummed in acknowledgement, before making her way out of the command platform and down onto the landing bay deck. The pod was within the opening of the hangar now, and warning sirens filled her ears as it slowly approached the bay.

All potential future developments aside, her first job was to make sure the visit to the station went smoothly and without any damaging incidents of any kind, and to help the scientists aboard find what they were looking for amongst the station archives and R&D labs.

The pod opened and the first one to step out was Keith, this time sans all the armour. Instead he was wearing one of the House Marmora tunics, and his ears were flicking nervously, or was it agitation?

He scanned the room, before catching sight of her and making his way over. “Miss Holt,” he said, holding out a hand in greeting. His voice sounded a little tense, and she wondered if just maybe this prince of a vast alien empire, with years of experience from the DDZ, was just as nervous about talking to her as she was to him. “It’s good to meet you in person. I’d like to thank you again. If you hadn’t picked up the emergency transmission from the Sub-Commander, my fleet would probably have perished.”

“Keith,” she greeted back. His handshake was firm enough, and she hoped Thace was right about staying clear of formal titles. “It’s good to meet you too. Welcome to the Interstellar Communications Hub. Before we go over the itinerary for the team, I’ll show you to your quarters. The trip from the GCS to Earth is gruelling even on your warships if I recall.”

She had enough knowledge of the Galran language and culture to know that since she was of an alien race, the usual formalities didn’t apply to her. She was still paranoid though. The Taujeerians didn’t expect it either but one time Shiro had referred to their king by his first name and it hadn’t gone down well for her Bytor friend.

He didn’t even blink, barr to look around at the hangar. “Terran tech has always been quite strong against rift entities, so I think the scientists are chomping at the bit to see your labs, but a chance to freshen up would be appreciated by everyone else, I’m certain,” he mused. “Is it just me or is this light lower than usual?”. 

“We’ve just finished updating the systems, so the lights will adjust based on bio-thermal scans taken when you entered the station, rather than needing the old manual ID input in your rooms like before.”

It was a type of Olkarian tech that had been adapted by her brother to help those races that frequented the station adjust before entering Earth’s atmosphere. Terrans needed brighter lights than a lot of other species, and that made races like the Galra uncomfortable. It was why their ships were so dark to Terran eyes. 

“It’s much appreciated,” Keith said wryly. “My eyes are better than most but even so last time I visited I had a headache all week. I ended up hiding on the ship for the last few days.” He confessed. “I was fed up of walking into walls.”

“The first time I boarded the GCS I spent the first few days walking into walls until my eyes adjusted, so I can sympathise,” Katie smiled. It was awkward small talk but it wasn’t truly awkward. “If you follow me I can show you to your rooms. There’s two hours before the labs will be ready to meet your R&D team, so feel free to relax or wander around the ship.”

Keith nodded and after a few words to the team behind him, he and the girl following him led them along the halls beside her.

“I didn’t know you’d been to Command before, it wasn’t in the information my grandfather gave me about you,” he said, so bluntly and calmly, Katie nearly tripped over her feet. “Were you there for long?”

“I was stationed at the Terran embassy for three years,” she said. “I wanted to stay for longer, but the Garrison’s training program requires five years of experience on three different planets, so I had to spend my last two on Olkarion and Altea.” She explained, pausing for a moment. “You didn’t get the information from Thace?” She asked warily.

“He passes things on but sometimes he gets wrapped up in his work and forgets to send things. You’ve had direct contact with him so I don’t think you’ll have any problems,” Keith shrugged. “Your superiors sent some information across, but it was very basic, so I refrained from contacting you after the rift incident at risk of getting something wrong.”

Beside him, a blue-haired girl laughed. “Your grandfather often says trying to get documents he needs from my father is like trying to get blood out of an invisible stone, or words to that effect,” she said, before holding out a hand. “My name is Acxa. I’m here as Keith’s escort.” 

Thace’s daughter, a guard. The one he had told Katie to look to for help if needed. “That’s an awful lot of trouble to go to for a stranger,” she blinked, extending her own hand in greeting. “Wait, is that why you decided to accompany the R&D team?” She asked.

Keith nodded. “It was my father’s idea, but it sounded like the sensible option,” he paused as they stepped into one of the lifts, and she gave the numbers to the guide accompanying the rest of the team for their rooms before following.

The doors closed, and he turned back to face her.

“He reminded me that while it isn’t written into the treaty, there is the possibility that you would not just be my partner, but my mate as well. Given how unusual that is for Terrans, it just seemed like the reasonable thing to do, though I do apologise for the short notice. I had to badger my grandfather into seeing it that way instead of as ditching my fleet, so it was a rushed decision.”

“So, you bullied the Emperor into letting you join the research team’s visit, just so you could speak to me?” She blinked, not entirely sure if she wanted to believe that. 

It had been strange enough to hear that he was going to be on the ship, but she supposed it made sense now, with this information at any rate. She was still kind of stunned. Even with advanced Shawyer-EM Crystal Drives, it took over a month of constant travel to reach the GCS, and that was with good flight conditions, and no unexpected rift ruptures or meteoroid showers. Or Weblums.

He’d spent a month on the flight here, just so he could talk to her in person? If nothing else, she had to admire his predisposition toward manners.

“Regardless of the nature of our future relationship, our current one should be at the least amicable, and considering how much this is to affect our lives, isn’t it the prudent thing to do?” He asked. 

Before she could reply, the lift pinged, and she was distracted for a moment as they stepped out to wait for the second with the rest of the scientists. It wasn’t very long to think about what he had said, but then again, it didn’t have to be.

First impressions were often wrong, she’d learned that quickly at the Garrison during her training years, but she had a feeling that her first impression of the Prince, was not. 


	6. Chapter 6

Katie looked mournfully up at her Hesperides Rover.

It had travelled through star systems with her when she made the GCS her permanent home. It was a small pod-mecha, smaller even than a MFE, but its size hid a powerful punch and also gave it much more freedom of movement than some of the other ships in Earth’s space fleets. They were Veronica’s design, and the Altean’s vision had been enacted perfectly by the tech teams.

“Are you absolutely sure I can’t go for a fly?” She asked the engineer mournfully, despite already knowing the answer. “I’m hardly showing, really. It just seems that way because I’m so short.”

“Your six months pregnant Katie, you’re going to go pop any day now,” Hunk frowned. “No way. Just because Keith agreed doesn’t mean I do. You know full well that you could go into labour just from take-off vibrations! That’s what happened with Kian, and that was on the Brodar, not inside a mechasuit!”

Katie sighed, shifting her chest plate a little so that the armoured fabric of the skirt sat on her belly a little more. She hated sticking out so much, but space didn’t care if she was pregnant, so she didn’t complain about the protective layers.

She was used to them by now, she just hated the extra covering when she was used to a more manoeuvrable suit. At least her usual suit had grown with her body. There was something to be said about Galra maternity wear. Once her baby was born - soon, she hoped - it would go back to being a skirt and the usual storage rib between the chest plate on her bodysuit.

“I know, that’s kind of the idea, I feel like a Weblum that just scoffed six planetoids like this,” she grumbled, still staring wistfully at the robot. “Thank the stars I don’t have to put up with it for another three months. I’ll admit, that was an unexpected blessing.”

“And your luck makes Terran women across the galaxies green with envy,” Hunk chuckled. “I’m still not letting you fly though. “

From the other side of the robot, Zethrid snorted as she polished her luxite blade. “My cousin would probably have you thrown out of the nearest airlock if you did.”

Technically secondary cousin, but the familiarity was close enough that Katie usually forgot that Zethrid was the deceased Commander Sendak’s granddaughter instead of Kolivan’s. The Galra woman was a near constant presence now. Much like her sister Acxa was Keith’s guard, Zethrid was hers. At first, Katie hadn’t been sure about the arrangement, but over the years, she’d grown fond of her brash mannerisms and savage kind of intellect.

“That’s a bit dramatic,” Katie mused, turning back to her computers as Hunk tinkered away at the Rover’s hardware. “He’d probably just give him mess hall duty for a few months,” she suggested instead, squirming in her seat as she tried to get comfortable.

“You’re his mate,” Zethrid shrugged. “But I still think you underestimate his temper, Princess. He’s calmed since you were unified, but you've never seen him dressing down the new recruits.” She grinned, her fangs on show. “It’s glorious.”

Katie frowned, but had to agree. Partly. On paper, she only directly interacted with the generals and commanders during official events, even on the Brodar so she didn't see much of the day to day interaction, and when she was around, they seemed to be on good behaviour orders. 

Due to the treaty, she wouldn't be an official Galran citizen unless Keith became the emperor. The Garrison had wanted her to have a few back out clauses. That meant she didn't have any direct knowledge of or membership in the Empire’s ranks. She was in the science division though, and her rank there matched Keith’s to the same effect. It still couldn't open every door, true, but she got everything she needed to from Keith anyway so it didn't matter much. As of that moment, she was working on some coding updates for the armour that one of the armourers had been having trouble with. They wanted it to react to the presence of rift quintessence, to help crews working outside the ships or in deep space detect tears before the tears appeared. The technology was already available on ship scanners, turning the usual purple bases an unpleasant pink that matched the colours generated by the rifts. The armourers wanted the suits to have the same ability, but needed a much shorter and more flexible type of code. Through Keith, she’d been secretly given the project to stay occupied in the last couple of months of her term.

Some women were very agreeable to pregnancy, and Katie had quickly discovered during her first that she was definitely not one of them. She was cranky, irritated by the constant and rapid press on her insides, sick all the time, and only got sleep when her body decided to pass out from exhaustion. Only to be woken by her baby kicking the daylights out of her spleen, back or bladder, and starting the fun all over again. Secret clandestine military projects were her only reprieve.

All thanks to her husband’s genetics–Galra gestation periods were faster than human ones and so foetal growth had an impact on her at a faster rate than a typical Terran pregnancy would. It was worth it, she knew that, but the journey was just intolerable, and she considered herself lucky that she had less time in the state than the rest of her species. Keith had asked how she felt about sterilising after this baby, and she was starting to consider it. She didn’t think she could stand being pregnant again, no matter how wonderful the result. Three kids would be enough for her. Especially if she decided to take the quintessence serum to match her lifespan closer to Keith’s that had been offered in the treaty. She didn't want a horde more if she was going to live past the Terran average.

“So, are you guys having a fight or something? Because both of you are avoiding talking about each other whenever I mention something, even just jokes or stuff for the ARUS Initiative,” Hunk asked, lifting his head up from his work with concern in his voice. “You’ve both got that pinched look on your faces. Also, you're trying to bury yourself in work, which you said you’d stopped three months ago, because the chairs made your back sore.”

Katie had been hopeful that she could avoid Hunk’s perceptive social skills. Then again, she doubted she would be loitering in his work bay in the first place if had been subconsciously seeking them out. “It’s not so much a fight, we haven’t spoken about it at all, actually, more like an unspoken conflict of preference and interest which by all fairness, I should have expected,” she sighed, sitting down on Hunk’s desk chair as he turned a little attention back to his work on the Rover.

“That sounds like a fight to me,” he shrugged. “But okay. Non-verbal lack of communication. Not good either. What’s it about, first off?”

Katie leans back on the chair and sighed, closing her eyes. She didn’t even know if it would be good to talk about this in front of Zethrid. She didn’t want her personal issues to come across as offensive.

“It’s the Kral Zera,” the bodyguard said for her simply. “The Princess is having some cultural disparities, I believe.” She grinned, jerking Katie from her concerns with relative ease. 

Hunk frowned. “But you’ve known about that since you guys got married. Keith’s never made it a secret that he wanted to succeed his grandfather, wasn’t it part of the treaty?”

“Yes, that’s the problem. I don’t know if I can face it, or if I even want him to do it. I’ve seen gladiator matches hundreds of times now but… the Kral Zera is different, and the Archivist is already announcing the applicants.” She frowned.

Once upon a time aside from new advances in Rift Tech, the historical accounts and cultural information taught in her junior school had been what fascinated her about alien cultures and technology, and the Kral Zera had been the one that drew her towards the space faring race. 

All of the Galran Houses were entitled to enter at least one entrant into their imperial ceremony by ancient laws. It didn’t have to be a noble as Terra would classify the higher military either. Anybody could enter. Nearly every single Galra in the system had served in the military at some point in their lives anyway - strength was part of their core beliefs - so there was arguably no discrimination in that regard either. 

Nowadays it was an event lasting several months as Houses all across the Galra Empire fought in the Imperial Ring, broadcasted freely to other cultures. To foreign races it was an odd way to practice politics, but not to the Galra. At the end of all the fighting, in the last round, those who failed to reach the Kral Zera and light the torch would willingly sacrifice themselves to the victor, a sort of blood fealty that swore their houses into union behind the new leader. People were proud of their house scions in their grief, from those that worked on the farming decks to the ambassadors, merchants, mechanics and highest of the generals. 

Entry to the Kral Zera was not something one undertook lightly, and when she first signed the treaty that confirmed her marriage, and brought her to the vast mobile network that served as the Galran home world, she had still been fascinated. She hadn’t expected it to have the emotional impact it did when Kolivan announced that the applications had officially begun.

She’d signed it with the impression that when–and it had been made clear by Thace, Keith, and the Emperor that her would-be husband’s intent was non-negotiable, a clause added by Keith himself–the time arrived, she would be able to offer the support. 

He had his goals, just like her, and she had been determined that she wouldn’t stand in the way of those, as it was a courtesy that had also been extended to her. She hadn’t thought it would matter that much. She hadn’t thought she would ever be more than courteous friends and partners with Keith, but she could only laugh at that idea now. 

Part of her had even wondered if they wouldn’t have divorced before the ten-year grace period had passed. Sixteen years had gone by so fast she hadn’t realised how short a time it was until the possibility that she might not see the next became reality.

Now, older, less naive, she felt an emotional drain. The Kral Zera held no cultural significance to her. When she thought about her husband’s name being called out as one of the applicants, she felt sick. She had built a life here, a family. She had two sons already, and had a third child due any day. She’d lived amongst the Galra for more than a decade now, and while she had embraced the culture, she couldn’t bring herself to embrace this. All she could imagine was a bloodbath.

She explained all this to Hunk and he winced. “That actually stinks, so you’re like, contractually obligated to attend this thing even if you don’t like it?” He asked.

“I doubt it’s written there like that but it was the only thing Keith bent over backwards about. I didn’t think it would bother me as much as it does because…”

“Because you were more interested in rift-tech and your inner Galrophile than love, and didn’t think you’d actually care about your husband romantically?” Hunk guessed. Katie had to admit, it probably wasn’t that hard to figure her mind-set out, but she avoided looking at him anyway. It made her sound so callous, but Hunk wasn’t exactly wrong.

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but… in essence. I kind of stick out in the imperial box, so the absence would definitely be noticed,” Katie sighed. “The problem is that I know how much it means to Keith, I want to support him, I’m just-”

Their conversation was cut off as all the lights in the engineering docks clanked, and slowly died into pitch black, along with everything else. Like the gravity control. 

Before she realised what had happened, she had been shaken and thrown off her seat, the chair and part of the desk crashing towards her, before she was floating several feet above the ground with Hunk, trying to dodge the rest of the floating debris as multiple crashes rattled and shook through the deck.

“Princess, grab hold!” Zethrid called out, her jetpack already active as the deep pink and black static that could only come from a spatial rupture began to spread over the consoles.

Katie reached out for her extended arm, grabbing hold and letting the taller guard pull her to relative safety. Thankfully the atmospheric regulators, life support, and shields had held up on their secondary power sources.

“Oh, it’s good to know the new insulations can block out most of the rift radiation,” Hunk groaned, as Zethrid zoomed them both over to him. “That’ll save time when we start building the energy cells for the Arus station.”

“Are the emergency comms active? What’s our connectivity stat-” Katie winced at a sharp pain in her belly. 

Getting knocked around had not been a good thing. Not when she was so less manoeuvrable, and they were being attacked by space hell itself. She felt scrambled, her insides jostling, pain and then… nope. That was not her waters breaking. Definitely not. Sure, she was fit to burst, but not in zero-g in the middle of a rift rupture.

“Not your concern right now, Princess, I can smell your birth fluids,” Zethrid told her apologetically. “We need to get to the lab decks, and find my father.”

Had it not been for the lurches and bruising Katie couldn’t see, but could certainly feel in her belly, she might have tried to protest. Ulaz had warned her that this child’s birth might be harder than her first two, that precautions might be needed. That surgery might be more likely, since the baby took more after Keith already. 

Now she’d been attacked by flying debris and jostled around in zero gravity, not to mention there was probably trace rift radiation floating around, even if the insulations were mostly intact. 

If that hadn’t done some shitty things to her uterus and–more worryingly–the baby’s placenta, she didn’t know what would. 


	7. Chapter 7

Altea was a beautiful planet, but as she closed the doors to her temporary rooms, Katie couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. 

The younger prince, while close to her own age, and very kind–even flattering until he realised she was semi-engaged to his… whatever distorted relation Keith was to him–was certainly a handful. She could see why Veronica had decided to apprentice for her home space program on Terra if she had to cope with Prince Lance every day. 

Pulling off the formal uniform she’d been wearing for the dinner in exchange for a tunic and leggings that were a bit more comfortable, she flopped onto the bed, whining her discontent into the linens. Altean mattresses were amazing, the best in the galaxy, but even they couldn’t pull her troubled thoughts from her mind.

Tomorrow was the big meeting. The Galra envoy was on its way, and it would be the last of the formal meetings between herself and Keith before preparations began for the wedding, in three months’ time. Unless she decided to no longer participate. It would be her last legal free pass out of the treaty. If she changed her mind later, there would be ten times more political red tape to go through.

The meeting was being held on Altea as a middle ground, giving both her and Keith the chance to think carefully, and make their decisions individually beforehand. They would be mediated by Veronica’s mother, Queen Fala, and if all went well, Katie would have a fiancé before the planet’s third moon rose tomorrow evening.

That was the problem though. She wasn’t sure if things were going well. She got along with Keith easily enough, and they were definitely good friends now. It had been five years since she first met him, and like Shiro had told her, he was nice. Dare she say it, she liked him.

He worked hard, and she could tell that he wanted to do what was best for his people if he succeeded at the next Kral Zera. He wanted to follow up on his grandfather’s steady attempts to find a new home world, develop their rift technology even further, and delve into the fertility problems that had plagued the Galra since they were forced to the stars. 

He was interested too, in Earth’s culture, something which despite his father’s influence and several visits to the Colonies on Mars and Mercury, he’d never been exposed to much, so the formal visits to Terra had been fun for her, seeing his reactions to things she’d taken for granted every day. Things like trees, moss, sunsets, clouds.

Maybe he’d seen them on other planets, but the Galra were so advanced that it was hard to remember they had no planet of their own anymore. Keith was good company, and she enjoyed the few chances they’d had to spend time together. Of course, they were both busy people, who lived at opposite spectrums of a few galaxies, so meeting in person was rare, but after the first meeting, they’d scheduled regular hail calls, and now, they were in contact every few days or so.

She was due one from him today even, but she was nervous. So much depended on this meeting, and she wasn’t sure if she was making the right decision. Mainly because of her family. When she first applied, her parents - especially her mother - had been dubious but still supportive. Now, with things taking a more serious turn, her mother had been more assertive with her worries. She had never stopped her, or told her what to think, but the questions she asked made it clear she was not fond of making this treaty part of her personal life.

Katie had to wonder if she might be right. How could she know if she would be happy with someone she’d really only spent a few months (over scattered weeks) with in person? Her mother’s concerns weren’t unjustified, and then there was the quintessence injection.

Terran lifespans had increased a lot after WWIII, but they still weren’t quite the length of the Galra. Exposure to rift quintessence might have damaged their fertility, but it had doubled their lifespans, which had lent to a certain amount of age and life disparity between her and her potential groom, even if they were of a similar age now. As such, if she signed the treaty, then it included the right and privilege of an inoculation should she so wish it.

The implication was that if the marriage was successful, it would be hers to use, and Katie had a nervous curiosity about it. She’d spoken to Shiro about her concerns before leaving, but his usual advice hadn’t been what she was looking for. He was too empathic sometimes. Her family was also out of the advice list simply because she knew what their opinion was. Well, except for Matt - he’d stayed consistently enthusiastic.

It seemed, as her wrist-link began to beep, alerting her of an incoming hail call, there was only one person she would be able to get a blunt, straight, honest answer from. So, she opened the link, and brought up a holoscreen with Keith’s familiar face.

The yellow sclera always took her by surprise, but it vanished quickly as always as his ears twitched jauntily upon receiving the link on his end. ‘_ Hello Katie, _’ he smiled.

“Hi,” she waved one hand lackadaisically. “I wasn’t sure if you would call tonight. You must be somewhere close to Altea if you’re arriving tomorrow?” She asked, the screen moving as she pulled one of her pillows and began to make herself more comfortable.

‘_ We’re in the southeast quadrant of the Triangulum Galaxy. We’ll be passing into the Andromeda tomorrow morning. _ ’ He yawned, a tiny yowl in the back of his throat while his fangs were on show. ‘ _ After that it will probably be around 0300 Vargas when we reach come into Altea’s orbit. We wanted to remain there for a while to adjust to the planetary routines, but as it’s meteor season, we’ll have to land in the hangars on the planet’s surface to avoid the ship being damaged. _’

Katie winced. Galran time was longer than Altean, and the intergalactic standard, so more often than not there was a horrendous gap between the exchanges. Granted, Galra didn’t need sleep as often as Terrans or Alteans, but they generally slept longer instead, something Keith looked like he was in desperate need of.

“How long have you been awake?” She asked suspiciously.

‘_ Maybe five quintants? _ ’ He guessed, scraping one of his ears in mild thought. ‘ _ It’s hard to guess. I lost track after we ran into some unusual rift activity just past Plaxea. We stopped for a while to collect the data and now my sense of time is off. _’

“You could check on your computers,” Katie suggested.

‘_ I’d rather just sleep, _ ’ Keith snorted - his light, soft fur rippled in time with the gesture. ‘ _ But I wanted to call first, as we usually do. How was your passage from Earth? _’

“The trip was fine, some minor activity past Mercury, but we managed to avoid it. It’s the Prince that’s exhausted me. He so… enthusiastic. About _ everything _. Even when he’s arguing. People like that tire me out,” she confessed, before realising she may have made an error. “Sorry, I didn’t mean any offence. I forgot for a moment that you’re related.”

‘_ It’s a distant relationship, especially with Lance, _ ’ Keith said dryly, his ears twitching in a hint of irritation this time. ‘ _ Please, by all means go on. _’

“How exactly are you related to the Alteans again? I know it was to do with Emperor Lotor, but I forget the wording for your relationship.”

‘_ The Altean scions are second-cousins-once-removed by Terran understandings, _ ’ Keith grunted. ‘ _ But for the sake of international diplomacy and my grandfather’s sanity we don’t mention, bring up or acknowledge any relation them too often, by mutual agreement with the Dowager Queen Lora. Emperor Lotor’s love affair with Princess Allura was a troubling time for both our societies. _’ 

“You just don’t get on with Prince Lance,” she teased. 

His face pinched a little and she laughed at his distraught expression. ‘_ It’s as you say, he’s exhausting. Even talking about him is exhausting, _ ’ Keith said, his tired voice implying the discussion of the Alteans was over. ‘ _ He is not why I called. Are you well? _

“Mostly, just… can I ask you some things about the treaty?” She probed, unsure if Keith would be open to discussion this late. They had spoken about things involving the treaty before, but not often enough really. She felt they always got too caught up in trying to get along to worry about it.

‘_ Of course, _ ’ Keith said instantly, looking a bit more alert, a little concerned, but mostly curious. ‘ _ Were the last revisions to the clauses Thace added at the start of the movement unclear or unacceptable? I can ask him to change them if so. _’

“No,” she smiled. “It’s nothing like that. They were great. I just… Do you ever wonder if this is the right thing?” She asked. “My mother… she’s worried I’ll regret this, and now I’m wondering if she’s actually got a point after all.”

Keith listened patiently, and his ears twitched in thought for a moment. ‘_ I’m not sure I can give you a good perspective, but I shall try, _ ’ he said. ‘ _ Your mother’s concerns are not unfounded, and that you feel them too is reassuring. I feel we know each other well enough, at least, to be honest, and had you not expressed some reservations, I would be concerned that the matter was not being taken seriously on your part, _’ he said, bluntly.

“It doesn’t bother you at all?” Katie asked, surprised.

Keith’s ears twitched in amusement. ‘_ Not at all. I’ve had years to prepare for this. As long as my grandfather has been the Emperor, and ever since I decided I would be taking part in the next Kral Zera, I knew that any union I had would need to be of benefit to the empire, and not necessarily one born from personal preference if I wanted to be sure of my application validity. I wanted a practical arrangement first and foremost,’ _ he said. ‘ _ I have to approach this with my own scrutiny, and while I’m satisfied with the current outlines that have been set out, it doesn’t change the fact that… marriage, _ ’ he paused over the Terran word for a moment, ‘ _ is incredibly personal for any species. It will take effort to maintain a good relationship with you, especially in light of our respective career paths, and I do worry if I can do so. The possibility of our relationship souring after extended exposure to each other isn’t non-existent either. The clauses Thace has developed are for both our benefit and reassurance. He is family after all. _’

Katie paused, digesting his words, before relief washed over her. “So, is that your long-winded way of saying you’re scared too?”

‘_ Very much so, _ ’ Keith nodded, his ears perking up a little. ‘ _ I have also argued with my father about this infinitely. Ever since our first meeting. He doesn’t want me to enter the Kral Zera however, and as a formal union is a requirement for that, his friendly parental sabotage is expected. _ ’ He paused. ‘ _ Is that something of concern to you? _’ He asked.

Katie was startled by the question, and had to think for a moment. The Kral Zera was something that didn’t happen often - only thirty-five had been recorded so far - but she knew a few things. It had been one of the lingering traditions that had formed her interest in the empire.

“Maybe, it would depend on how well things went,” she confessed. “But we both agreed to respect and support each other’s career choices, and if you want to enter, I don’t think that’s really my decision to make, and you’ve been planning to do so for years now, correct?” Keith nodded. “In that case I would hope I could support you in the decision. I can’t guarantee how I’ll feel in the future, but I promise I’ll try to.”

‘_ Are you certain? _ ’ Keith asked, brightening a little and a more teasing tone in his voice. ‘ _ If I succeed, that means you’d be an Empress. _’

“Are you trying to scare me off?” Katie shot back, raising an eyebrow.

Keith laughed again. ‘_ Maybe I am, I’m not sure. Is it working? _’

“Sorry, all your Galra tech is just too much of a lure.”

‘_ In that case, I’ll refrain from trying any more. Do you want to discuss anything else? _’ Keith asked, his voice calm and gentle, happier in spite of his own exhaustion and droopy ears.

“No, I think I’m okay. You should try to get some rest,” Katie urged. He’d been drooping through the entire conversation, and she wondered if maybe the Alteans would let them delay the signing for a day or so, just so the Galran contingents could get some sleep.

He nodded, yawning. ‘_ I think so too. I enjoyed our talk, as always. I will see you when we land in… _ ’ Keith finally looked at the time on his own screen and let out a mournful growl of dismay. ‘ _ …19 Vargas. _’

Katie winced - that was nowhere near long enough. 

“So did I. Thank you for the advice, I appreciate it.” Knowing she wasn’t the only one in this match-up who was anxious about their future together made her feel space-leagues better about the matter. “Goodnight Keith.”

‘_ Goodnight Katie. _’

After Keith logged out of the call, Katie sat up and fumbled through her bag of clothes for a jumper, then set out in search of Fala or Veronica. Or even Prince Lance.

She wanted to talk to the Alteans about the schedule for the treaty signing again before she turned in. After all, it wouldn’t be fair if she was the only one there who was well-rested.

* * *

The artwork in this chapter is by artsy-oleander, and was included in the digital zine! You can find her work on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/artsy_oleander/status/1159553045023166464?s=20) or on [Pillowfort!](https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/785638) It was amazing to work with her! I LOVE this scene so much♥︎♥︎♥︎ Please go and send her some love for bringing it to life!


	8. Chapter 8

The quintessence-fuelled ion engines of the warship hummed quietly, their turbines echoing through the low light of the hallways as Katie made her way from her office back to the private quarters she shared with her husband. She had been focused on her rift research; her thoughts locking out the impending onslaught of emotions their destination was sure to bring. 

As the ship pulled them through space, past nebulas and dwarf stars, suns and planets, she had tried to hide away, delay the inevitable. Her efforts were lacklustre at best thanks to her distracted mood.The message from Daiyak to say that the boys were ready for bed had been as good an excuse to run away from her research, as much as that had been to ignore the weight of the upcoming ceremony had on her marriage in recent days.

She didn’t want to feel conflicted, but she how could she not? Tomorrow, hundreds of Galra would fight to the death in an ancient ceremony of blood and fire for the right to the empire’s throne. Keith would be among them, and there was an extremely high chance he would not be the one to light the flame.

Tomorrow, there was a high chance he could die, and she just couldn't settle herself to that possibility. She hated unconfirmed facts, variables that could never be factored, and this wasn't something she could prepare for; everytime she tried to reason with herself, all she could think about was her family.

Her sons were excited to see a ceremony lauded of the most honourable, and one of pinnacle exemplars of Galra principles. They were too young to understand death and what it meant, only watching lower level fights in the gladiator arenas–the fights where there was no death involved and they could cheer Keith on without fear of what they didn’t know or understand yet. Likewise, her daughter only knew that her father was the giver of piggybacks, treats, and endless patience in helping her toddle down the halls of the ship when he was supposed to be working.

How could Katie even begin to explain the honour in sacrifice, the dedication and loyalty the ceremony represented, when she couldn't see it herself?

When she reached their private rooms, they felt uncomfortable for the first time in many years. Even when she and Keith first started living together, she had never felt uncomfortable. Now she didn’t know where to look, or what to do to get away from the knowledge that her normalcy was hanging by a thread. Noises down the hallway pulled her towards the room dedicated to her youngest, and she poked her head around the door. 

Keith was sitting next to the tiny, plush toddler bunk set into the wall alcove, his data pad projecting pictures and music for the tiny girl curled up beside him. He finished; Katie found it hard to meet his concerned yellow eyes as they flicked in her direction. She left as silently as she’d arrived, pausing only to check on the boys–both of whom were sound asleep.

Reaching their bedroom, Katie quietly closed the door behind her, staring at the familiar rooms, the paraphernalia that made them comfortable, shared, and casually intimate. The wardrobe units in the wall for their armour suits, and the one for more casual or formal wear. Datapads and notebooks. The photographs programmed onto the walls. Inevitably, her eyes fell on their wedding picture. Despite its arrangement and the lack of romantic love that Hunk and Shay’s had borne from, they both looked happy, and she knew they had been. Hell, she still was, Keith still was, and that was exactly the problem the Kral Zera caused her.

Taking off the outer layers of her armour suit, Katie couldn’t help wondering if she would even be able stay if her mate fell during the Kral Zera. Dropping the suit into the repository to be sent to the laundry rooms, she pulled on a robe and sat on the edge of the sunken bed-pit in the centre of the room, burrowing her feet beneath the blankets as her mind wandered. To say nothing of how her children would respond, she knew that she would not be able to react as the Galra would. She hadn’t lived on a planet for decades, but if Keith died, it would be like the destruction of the earth beneath her feet.

“Katie?”

Keith’s voice was quiet in the doorway, and the clack of his boots on the metal floor was silent enough for her to know he wasn’t oblivious to her mood. How could he be? It had been getting worse and worse for days, if not weeks, and Keith could never be called an inattentive husband.

He was busy—so was she, that was why they relied on Daiyak to care for their children—yet still he made the time for her and for their kids. He messaged her throughout the day if they didn’t have much chance of seeing each other and tried to arrange his breaks so that it would match up with when she got the kids back from their nanny for a few hours for lunch. He’d given her illegal access to military tech projects during her pregnancy with Kallie because she was bored, and because he’d always tried to support her career, and not just because it was written into their marriage contract.

Likewise, she had known from the first day that she overlooked the full details in the Galran document that the Kral Zera meant to Keith; it what her career was to her, and she had unanimously agreed to support him in it then as a friend and partner. It made her feel even worse, because surely as his wife, she ought to be able to support something he’d been working for, aiming for for his whole life?

She heard the clink of armour being removed, then the warmer feel of Keith's arm on her shoulder, and she leaned back into it automatically. It felt like a cruel irony that the only comfort she could get from her conflicted feelings was from the light furry arm of the man causing them. 

“I'm sorry,” she sighed finally.

“Why?” Keith blinked.

“You know why,” Katie tilted her head back to look up at him. “I’m not really being as supportive about this as I should be. I’m your wife, and I knew this was coming for years, but I can’t be happy that you’ve made it this far. I’m angry too, and it’s not as though you hid a secret mistress from me. This is your career. Of course I understand.” 

Keith’s face remained impassive—it usually did—and he shifted a little, opening up and letting her scoot closer, wrapping his arms around her properly. “You’re right. I do know that, but Katie, you’re human. You didn’t grow up with this. I might be half, but I grew up in the empire, not on Terra. The fact that you’ve tried is enough. If you don’t want to be present during the ceremony tomorrow, I’ll understand, and whatever you decide when it’s over, no matter what happens, I’ll make sure your wishes are supported.”

Keith was trying to be reassuring, even though Katie stubbornly shook her head and leaned in close—letting Keith scoop her up so they could curl up and hold each other—the guilt that came with her words remained in her belly. Nuzzling close, she let Keith take whatever comfort he could from holding her, absently raking her fingers through his fur, dislodging a few patches that were loose. He’d be shedding soon if he made it through the Kral Zera. She didn’t see the point in arguing, or ‘ _ discussing _ ’ the subject more. 

She could have. She could have argued with him til’ the air turned blue. She knew Keith would never pull the marriage card, but she was legally obligated to be there for him. Keith would never force her to support him, and the one time he really needed her… she didn’t want to be there. Because she was scared. It made her feel like she was failing him as a partner. Keith didn’t see it that way, somehow, so she didn’t want to argue. 

He had already arranged video messages for their children. He had been working on posthumous orders regarding her status and stars knew what else. He wasn’t sitting back and letting the dice roll on what would happen to her, and had taken every precaution to ensure her work would remain open to her and that their children would have support.

She’d still rather he changed his mind in the hours left before their arrival at Feyiv, but if this did end up being her last night spent with her husband, she didn’t want to spend it arguing over something she knew she couldn’t change.

So, she huddled as close to him as she could instead, trying her best not to wonder if she would do so in the days to come.

Unsurprisingly, sleep came fitfully, and it was with bags under her eyes that even make-up couldn’t completely hide that she found herself standing in front of the gargantuan flaming altar of the Kral Zera.


	9. Chapter 9

The arena was a hub of quiet, fizzing excitement when they arrived. However, Katie could only stare at the pink light of the flame and her mind casted forward to the moment it would fade. 

A shriek of annoyance and a warning snarl that only ever accompanied two young boys scrapping and arguing over something the way children were wont to do brought Katie back to the present. Today however, rather than her usual exasperation and calm, if irritated separation of the two, Katie’s patience for exuberant disagreements was thin.

“Kian! Kyle!” She snapped at the two children heckling each other. “What did I tell you both about behaving today?” 

Her tone spoke volumes to the two children and their brawl immediately stopped. Beside her, Keith’s mother looked as though she was trying very hard not to laugh as Katie handed her granddaughter to her, and then bent to fix the boys’ miniature not-armour suits–miniature versions of the tunic the Emperor wore since they were too young for armour suits.

Normally, she’d be cooing over how smart and grown up, taking pictures on her data pad for her parents; today she could only stress about creases forming in the fabric, and the highly possible tears to their fabric of reality. It had taken a lot of convincing from Kolivan and Krolia—their assurance that all the other kids in the audience would also be removed before the fight itself—to even allow her children to go to the arena.

“You have to be good today–it’s an important day for your father,” she reminded them as she straightened the eldest boy’s blue shoulder lapels. 

The eight-year-old–Kian–nodded, slightly more aware. “Grandpa’s going to retire, that’s why Dad’s fighting in the arena. He’s representing our house!” He proclaimed. “Dad’s so cool!”

“House Marmora!” Kyle yelped in loud, piercing synchronicity.

Kian was half of Katie’s height already. His peachy skin—seeming pink in the light of the Kral Zera’s flame just across the raised courtyard where they all stood with the Archivist—was flushed from rough-housing like kids often were. His brown hair was fluffed in excitement and his amber eyes sparkled in the flickering glow. For the tiny fangs that had grown in, the yellow sclera, and slitted pupils, Kian resembled his mother the most.

“Yeah, he is,” she sighed, turning to the first of his siblings. His brother, three years younger at five-years-old, had skin too with a light tone of purple to it. Like Kian’s, it was a bit tougher than hers, and like his brother, Kyle had Krolia’s pointed ears. His eyes had normal sclera and purple irises and he’d managed to come out of the gene mix with his grandmother’s sandy blonde hair, which he refused to cut, and so it was constantly a fluffy mess.

Both boys had her feet and hands with normal fingernails, so they didn’t have the claw dividers on their boots like Keith did, but normal rounded human toecaps. Were it not for the small subtle hints in their genetics, no-one would blamed for mistaking them as human.

“Daddy made the other fighter go all the way up to our seat!” He proclaimed, raising the arm she’d - ‘ _ Kyle hold still! _ ’ - just finished fixing in a skyward gesture, wrinkling the shoulder again. “Then he fell and his armour rattled like  _ bam!” _

“I remember,” Katie grumbled, trying not to sound as nauseated and nervous as she truly felt in front of the boys.

“The first fight with the robot was better,” Kian said, with a knowledgeable tone as she re-tied Kyle’s sash. 

She could have objected. Stars knew the whole empire was aware of her Terran moral compass and sensed that there were some parts of their culture she just couldn’t wrap her head around. She tried, however, and she supposed that people appreciated that more. If Katie had decided to stop her kids from going to the gladiator pit like their friends, she doubted anyone would have batted an eyelid, passing it off as her human quirks.

“Wasn’t not! Robots for kitlings like Kallie!”

“Kitlings like Kallie and Kyle!” Kian said sticking out his tongue. The effect was instant, with the younger boy screwing his face up in preparation for his verbal backlash, which exploded - ‘ _ Am not! Am not! Am not! _ ’ - in Katie’s ears, and only served to foul her mood some more.

“Boys!” Katie snapped. “I’ve told you twice now to behave! If I have to tell you again, I’ll have Daiyak keep your play breaks to your quarters for the next two movements. Do I make myself clear?”

The pair stopped, looked at her nervously, and nodded. Their cowed expressions made Katie feel horrible and she quickly held her arms out, tense posture deflating as she bent down on one knee, anger melting with the movement. 

“I’m sorry–I shouldn’t have shouted like that,” she apologised, when they scrambled over for hugs. “Mum’s just worried about a few things. I promise we can play later. For now, please, do as you’re told.” 

“Okay, Mum.” Kian nodded into her shoulder. Kyle purred a little, and she breathed a sigh of relief as her in-laws approached.

“Kian, Kyle,” their great-grandfather drawled out, attracting the attention of the two hooligans. “Come over here a moment. The Archivist wants to meet you two,” he said with ease and cheer Katie simply couldn’t manage right then.

Suddenly starry eyed again at the prospect of meeting the ancient man, her kids turned quickly for approval. Nodding, they scampered over to the masked man –who quickly showed proficiency in speaking with children as he gushed appropriately over Kian’s new fangs–and reclaimed her much less fussy daughter from the woman before as she approached.

“Take a few breaths,” Krolia said encouragingly. “You really don't have to stay here if you’re not comfortable, Katie. No one would hold it against you. I know Heath has already thrown up twice from nerves.” she tilted her chin towards Keith’s father. “He’s only here by sheer stubbornness.”

Katie followed her gaze and noted that her fellow Terran did indeed seem a lot paler than usual, though it didn't show unless you were looking for it. She hadn’t noticed at all.

“I know I don't,” she sighed, stroking Kallie’s fluffy ears gently. “But I at least want to try. If I end up howling and screaming, well, everyone can just say I’m reacting like a Terran, which would be true… I just… I don't know how you can’t be terrified…” Katie stressed to the woman. “You could lose your  _ son _ today. If it was Kian or Kyle or Kallie…” She couldn’t even bring herself to finish that sentence.

“Oh, I am.” Krolia smiled. “I wish Keith would have picked up a less violent career path and maybe taken into science like you,” she sighed, extremely wistfully. “Hardship makes us all stronger, and we learn from our trials. The cost of the Kral Zera is high. It always has been, the sacrifices made here don’t just demonstrate the loyalty of the losing houses. It also serves as a reminder to the victor. It keeps our civilisation together, even after all these millennia.”

Katie blinked, curiosity putting a slight balm on her growing fears. “Reminder of what?” She asked. The Kral Zera was broadcasted across the universe, yet it retained its mystery. It was a sacred ceremony, so some things remained unexplained by the cameras. 

“I suppose the Terran word would be ‘ _ responsibility _ ’, almost,” Krolia mused, bending down and blowing at Kallie’s fur in playful puffs that made the thirteen-month-old giggle. Katie couldn't help envying her daughter’s obliviousness. “It might be easier to understand when you see it for yourself. That was how I learned.”

“You saw Emperor Kolivan’s Kral Zera?”

Krolia nodded, standing again, her armour suit glinting in the light as the Archivist called everyone into their seats. She didn’t expand however, and Katie didn’t feel brave enough to ask.

The arena was packed to bursting just in the stands alone, and yet the Emperor’s presence instilled a firm order to the place. For the entrance ceremony, all the kids were at the front, just like her own would be in the imperial box where they were now heading. Absently pulling on the back of Kyle’s cloak as he began to pass by, she noticed that most people were at their seats, standing and waiting for Kolivan’s announcement. 

He stood with the Archivist, looking nothing like his near five hundred and seventy eight decaphoebs. As he began his speech, Katie felt her ears fill with white noise. It was easy to say she wanted to be here, but the closer she got to the start of the ceremony, the sicker she felt.

Kolivan’s speech ended and her body moved automatically. The guttural sounds forming with thousands of other voices as her fist raised to the centre of her chest in salute. 

At the same time the fireworks and starburst gases erupted, showcasing the beginnings of the celebrations, and the sound of marching feet signalled the arrival of the applicants who had made it to the final event. There were at least two hundred people of any shape, size, and background, if not more. Katie’s husband was just one of them.

“Where’s daddy?” Kyle asked, straining on his toes over the barrier to see as the entrants gathered in circles surrounding the sacred fire, facing the steps.

Helping to pull him up onto the barrier and slide his legs under the bar with one arm, using a shoulder to keep him in place, Katie scanned the crowd before pointing to her husband, towards the middle rings of entrants. All three kids followed the directions and started crowing excitedly; enthusiastic and as supportive as she wanted to be, without layers of anxiety for the outcome. Keith looked in their direction, nodding once to the kids’ delight. As the Archivist stepped forward, Keith’s face disappeared behind the mask and hood of his armour, blending in with the faceless hundreds in the square.

“Through thirty five rulers, during times of peace, expanse, and recently the growing threat to the united cosmos, and our determination for survival, this flame has burned for over fourteen millennia,” the archivist intoned, his voice rasping and booming across the amphitheatre. “From our first, Brodar, Vrig the Great, Zarkon the Destructor, to Lotor, the Last of the Blood Emperors, to Kolivan, wisest of them all. Soon, his time will end, and our next ruler must ascend these steps of destiny, and add their flame to his, join their strengths until the burden of our great empire becomes their own.”

The flame behind him dimmed as he spoke, sending the arena into darkness only lit by the stars and moons above their heads.

“I bid you all brave enough to take this challenge and vow to uphold the promises you carve today. Swear in the name of Emperor Kolivan and the Galra Empire to carry your fellow compatriots with you, wherever your steps and blades may fall. Do you so swear?”

The chorus was deafening, also with the crashing salute of fists on breastplates. The words ‘ _ Vrepit Sa! _ ’ echoed in unison throughout the entire amphitheatre, a chorus that shook down her spine. There was no clearer definition of them right now, the translation choice obvious. Whether there was any knowledge to be gained, it would either be Victory, or Death.

“Ready your blades.”

As the fizz and hum of transforming luxites began activating slowly across the square, Daiyak appeared. After exchanging a quick embrace with her, Katie couldn’t have urged her fast enough to get the kids into the inner waiting rooms. Other children around them were also being escorted out of the arena and an uneasy tension was settling on everyone. It was a mixture of fearful anticipation and dreadful excitement. The doorways closed silently, and Katie felt sick, her eyes going back to the crowd, knowing what was coming next. Krolia had grabbed her hand, and she gripped the woman for as much support as she gave in return, still scanning the weapons glinting in the dim pink light of the Kral Zera’s ominously hopeful flame.

Her eyes settled on where she had last seen Keith, focusing on one of the people, scrutinising the set of their shoulders to make her judgement, and she promised to herself that no matter what, she’d keep track of him until the end of the ceremony. She might not be able to see Keith’s face, but she could and  _ would _ watch. No matter how much she might hate to do so, she’d promised him years before that she would support him, long before she even fell in love, and she intended to keep that promise.

“Let the Kral Zera begin!”

The light from the flame flared to life at the Archivist’s words, then simmered to embers. Beneath its dim, warm glow, the battle began.

* * *

This artwork is by Luce-Ciel, and was included in the print and digital zines! You can find her on [Tumblr](https://luce-ciel.tumblr.com/post/186876753413/a-collaboration-piece-for-the-roads-untraveled) and [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/LuceCiel_Art/status/1159656264516771840?s=20) please go and reblog and love her! We spent ages working on the layout and I was blown away by how great this looked in print when I got my copy ♥︎☆★☆☆★☆☆★☆☆★☆♥︎ I had so much fun working out ideas with you for this hon! 


	10. Chapter 10

Keith had practiced for the Kral Zera ever since he’d been able to take the choice of its pursuit seriously , and still nothing could have prepared him for the absolute carnality that came with it. No matter which way he turned, there was blood. 

The noise from the crowd had drowned out the whistle of the blades around him as he ducked, docked, lunged and hurled himself into the bloodbath. He could hear little beyond his breath inside his helmet and no matter which way he moved, there was always a blade in waiting, always someone charging, someone falling to the greater intensity of another. And yet, he didn’t feel the terror that he had seen on Katie’s face before the archivist announced the rites to begin.

While didn’t feel fear the same way as his mate, he acknowledged the danger, the effect it would have on his family if he didn’t prevail in the trial. Katie faced her own discomfort by being present at all and his only choice was to live up to her expectations.Katie was his mate, and he would not do such an injustice to her as long as they were unified. For as long as he remained her husband, he would do everything in his power to avoid the outcome she feared for their family.

He raised his sword to the female beside him before her blade could cut his throat, and then moved onto the next foe. On and on it went, til’ he was beyond the realms of exhaustion and fought with desperation only.  As the battle progressed, the floor was bathed with blood and bodies. Slowly, the numbers of fighters dropped enough that Keith had to search for them as a gong sounded.

The signal informed them that time had finally raised the central fire, and upon that the light in the Kral Zera began to dim. The emperor's light began to fade, and in its dying embers, a new one would emerge. The sight was unmistakable, and along with perhaps six or seven more masked people, Keith raced. As fast as he could. As fast as his tired and battered body would allow. The tiredness and aches from the fight made his vision hazy. How long had it been?

It felt like quintants, though it might have been vargas. His vision was hazy and his body craved rest. He didn’t see the body that lunged from the side, too focused on the raising of the firepit, the silence that reigned over the spectators. There was a change in the air and everyone could feel it. For the first moment since the fight began, Keith felt error in his heart and he stumbled.

Persisting, he regained his feet and looked for the one source of reassurance in the amphitheatre as he took one of the torches to the fire.

He didn’t know if the direction of Katie’s gaze had been on him, but it felt that way.  During the whole fight, he had been so sure that she was supporting his decision at risk of the cost to her own emotional safety. The change in her expression altered him just enough. 

Ducking to the left as his unseen pursuer bore down, he wasn’t fast enough to avoid their blade completely sliced his side. To use the flame in battle or to drop it was sacrilege; as long as it did not touch the ground, he could keep going.

Dropping it as the fighter’s blade connected with his side, piercing skin and armour, Keith took his blade in his hands and carved into them a long strike, and they fell; hurling his blade into the next assailant, he reached out for the torch. With mere ticks before it hit the ground, he grasped it, and pulled the blade from his side. His helmet was covered in blood. As his own drained from him, he had only one thought to focus on. If he was to survive, he had to get up the steps. He had to light the flame.

He couldn’t hear anything–he was so close now–and the crowd was deafening all at once. he felt as though he was swimming, submerged with only the pounding of rapid, frantic heartbeats clear. Everything was so hazy, even after wiping the front of his visor. Had he made it? Could he stop yet? His wounds seared angrily, and as he climbed, more accrued, the desperate swings of his blade returned. It didn’t have the energy from before; a crushing blow to his head rattled his mind until he felled his attacker.

He couldn’t see. No. He could see, but it was red or pink, and he wasn’t even sure he was climbing the stairs any longer. Everything was so loud. Everything ached. Everything hurt. Where was he?

“It is done!” 

A gong sounded and there was a roar. His eyes burned under bright light and ears screamed at the thunder in the amphitheatre. It made his legs shake and threatened to take his balance away as the voice of the archivist boomed throughout the crowd, exalting the new emperor. The archivist’s voice was loud once again, and Keith couldn’t make sense of his words. He just knew he had to remain standing. He could not let exhaustion and injury claim him yet.

“I bade you all brave enough to take this challenge vow to uphold the promises you carved in blood today, and bid you to do so again. Will each of you warriors swear in the name of the Galra Empire to pledge the blood of your house, as the carriers of history, in fealty before this blessed flame?”

Keith couldn’t hear. Everything felt deaf in his ears as he mumbled in response to the archivist’s question.

“Vrepit Sa.”

Someone was holding him. Small. They didn’t smell like the copper and darillanozite of blood. It was a clean scent, like laboratory disinfectant and home. Bloodlust was driving him to hallucination, and if he didn’t know any better, he would have thought Katie was there. It was a nice hallucination; at least battle madness would be kind to his last moments.

“And to you, do you so swear as you vowed to carry these warriors with you, as the vassal of the empire’s loyalty, as the representative of your house, to carry that loyalty throughout this great empire?”

Keith raised his blade in preparation, along with the sound of others beside him.

He wondered if Katie would be comfortable as the new reign began. He’d done everything he could for her and their kids. Whatever she decided for the future, he knew they would be safe. His grandfather would make sure of it. She would be able to make her own choices, as she always had, and he was settled with that knowledge. His family would be safe and cared for. That was all he was concerned for in his absence. Knowing they were prepared as well as they could be at least let him hold his blade with confidence, and pride in his attempts.

“Vrepit Sa.”

The blades fell, and Keith finally allowed himself rest.


	11. Chapter 11

The journey to Earth had taken two months, which was much too long for Keith. Two months locked aboard a warship instead of the spacious GCS with the entire main House.

A few guests from allied planets that were picked up along the way. The Altean delegates were already en-route (or in Princess Veronica’s case, already on Earth), so he didn’t have to tolerate them for more than necessary, still, his ship felt cramped with the residential halls full to the brim.

Shedding season was likely coming early too, because his fur looked awful the closer and closer they got to Earth, and he bitterly wished not for the first time that he had inherited inherited his mother or father’s skin instead. He spent so much time trying to brush out the wafts and clumps that made it look unkempt and grizzly that by the time they stopped off on Kerberos to resupply at the Terran colony, he’d forgotten why he was fussing so much over his fur in the first place.

It was his unification ceremony with Katie Holt (or wedding, as she called it). He had spoken to her several times enroute to her home planet, as well as a few visits since they were officially engaged on Altea. Each time, he’d managed to forget just why he was travelling, even amid discussions on the various traditions being cut–‘_ I hope you’re happy if we don’t have a garter toss at the after-party, _ ’–and queries regarding the requirements for the contingent–‘ _ One of the lighting technicians wanted to know if colour adjusters would be suitable for your guests, or if she would have to adjust the wavelengths directly to mediate between Terran and Galra visual spectrums. Is there a preference? _ ’–or the technicalities for legal requirements–‘ _ Thace told me you knew, but to have our marriage valid on Earth, the officials are making use of the dual-planetary citizenship thing through your father, so the paperwork will all be signed under your Terran name. He did tell you, right? _’

When he remembered this information for what it meant, notably as they came into Earth’s orbit, he grew intensely anxious. The ceremony was to be broadcasted across most planetary networks within the Voltron Alliance, and there wasn’t much chance for them to adjust to Earth’s bright sunlight, thanks to the timing.

Her brother was waiting for them on the space station to take them down to the surface and he gave Keith an encouraging smile. “One of my friends asked me if I was going to give you the big brother talk, but I think marrying my sister is scary enough.” He grinned. Keith didn’t really understand how Katie might be scary, though he understood that Matt was making a joke to try and lessen his nerves and tried to give a smile of his own in return. At least one of his in-laws would be willing to hold a conversation with him.

Her mother, Colleen had always been polite, but distant, and after the engagement, Keith could see what had prompted her daughter to ask his advice prior to the official announcement and signing of the treaty. The Admiral was likewise distant, though that was more due to his work, and Keith had few opportunities to talk to him. Matt had joined Katie many times either on their visits to the Border, or GCS, or been floating around working on his own research on the Space Station outside of his own missions. He was also a friend of Shiro’s and having the Bytor around also helped to ease the conversation.

By the time they reached the surface and were making their way to the venue that the Garrison had prepared for the event, his eyes were stinging viciously, and not for the first time he wondered how Terrans could bear to live so close to their star. As his relatives hustled around into the hall, taking refuge in the low light and talking with the guests from Katie’s family and the Garrison, Keith went over the ceremony in his head yet again. 

There would be an exchange of Vows (something that seemed to be standard in most of the allied planets), human rings and Galran blades. That had been complicated, as Katie didn’t have a luxite blade. One of the armourers tweaked the recipe of the metal and came up with a version that suited Katie’s fighting style. Ilun was standing beside him with it, and Keith had the ring in his formal armour’s storage unit. Now all they had to do was wait for Katie.

Why bother waiting for one member of the partnership to arrive though? In Galran eyes it seemed a little odd and seemed to imply a power imbalance, but it was apparently the custom. Keith didn’t think anyone knew the significance of it anymore, but it was still a custom worth respecting, so he didn’t question it. He could look it up on a data stream later. It was the essence of his union with Katie really—a mix of Galran customs in line with the typical Terran rituals. At least the groomer had been able to get the clumps out of his fur, and the dodgy patch on his back was hidden by his ceremonial clothes. The ceremony was well dressed—he would hate to bring a shadow on it with shoddily maintained fur.

Gilt gem trees and vines that decorated typical unions lined the inner hall, and outside, up to the barriers for crowds of enthusiastic people, the exterior overflowed with fresh flower displays and ribbons purple, orange, white and green. Luckily, Katie had approved of the interior, instead of flowers. Keith knew it had made his grandfather relax; flowers were expensive (even for an emperor) with every bit of growing soil on their ships dedicated to food and other plant-based supplies. Katie’s preference to the gem-based decor resided more in the pollen content, but as long as they were both happy with the set-up, Keith didn’t suppose it mattered. They reflected the low light well, and both his grandfather and the Garrison had been satisfied. Instead of the usual amphitheatre style seating found at the temple on Feyiv–where most imperial unions were held beneath the Kral Zera–there were rows, something Keith found preferable. It would be easier to concentrate on Katie, his partner, without being distracted by something every way he looked. 

Amongst Katie’s troupe of attendants, was the officiant who would be overseeing the human aspects of the ceremony. He was in deep conversation with the Archivist, and judging by the looks he was shooting towards the orchestra on the upper levels, Keith guessed the waiting was almost over. The thunderous noise of the crowd outside was another sign too, and his ears flattened as the sound pierced highly at one point. People ambled to their seats and Keith followed his father up to the dias where the exchanges would be held.

“Well, she ain’t running away,” his father joked, patting his back. “That’s a good sign if yeh ask me. Don’t worry if your vows get fumbled. I made the ones I used up on the spot, and the whole amphitheatre was cryin’.” He grinned. “Don’t tell yer Ma that though. She’ll shank me.”

“You’d let her.” Keith shrugged. 

“Probably,” his father chuckled. “In all seriousness son, are you ready? I know you want to take over from your grandfather, but it’s not too late to change your mind about all this.” 

His parents joked and teased and argued often but their relationship had always been strong. He hoped when the treaty was first announced that he might get the chance to have on similar with whoever he went into a union with. Keith was under no illusions of suffering since his family had never insisted he find a partner based on politics. This was his choice and he was happy with it. Still, he was hopeful that maybe with Katie, he’d have a chance like his parents did. They were both practical realists with a similar sense of humour, and stood as good friends already, so the chance was reasonable.

“Everything is prepared.” Keith nodded. “And Katie understands my plans. In respect, I’ll be helping her with her own; we have time to work on our relationship. Right now, it’s a practical decision for both of us.”

He knew his father was concerned, and about more than just his love life, but he’d had a long time to prepare for this, and Katie wasn’t a complete stranger. They were good friends, which was more than he’d anticipated. His father rolled his eyes, then gave him another pat on the shoulder, straightening one of the epaulets on the formal garb. Keith’s armour was shined and polished, a faded lilac that didn't offend Galra eyes, with a rich purple under suit and dark accents in the wrap and armour insets. The cape was a slightly pinker shade–he’d managed to avoid the ridiculously long one his grandfather’s armour included. The suit was coded with lighting that would show the colour, yet not invoke the same glare and inevitable headaches. “Good to know kid.” He smiled. “Go get her.”

Keith blinked. “But she’s already here.” he mumbled to himself, baffled not for the first time by his father’s turn of phrase. 

The music changed pace to a melodic tune and the Garrison soldiers at the entrance reached out for the doors. For the first time that day, Keith got a sight of Katie—the Terran sun was beaming across her shoulders as she made her way up the path from the hoverer that had taken her from her home, her own father beside her in his formal uniform. The white of her dress was almost blinding, even so far away, but he could make out enough to know that it suited her immensely. Simple, clean, just enough to set her apart and let her personality show. 

“Keith, stop staring and get into position. They can’t start until you’re standing where you’re supposed to. I get it, Pidge is amazing. I don’t know how you conned her into marrying you–probably bribed her with a robot or something–but you’re holding up the show!” Lance said, strategically rearranging him more in line with the aisle between the rows; Katie and Sam had slowed down a little, which made the people around him shuffle into place and he felt himself be pushed.

Keith briefly thought about growling at his not-cousin, but when he looked around, he had been standing in the wrong place and readjusted his cape–which Lance had ruffled– nodding his thanks. Then, finally, the ceremony began. He wondered how Terrans coped with all the waiting. It felt like a test of sorts. He had hoped he and Katie would arrive at the same time, however this was one of the Terran traditions that Katie had wished to maintain, so he tried to stand properly and patiently, watching as she approached the entrance to the hall. Mostly, he was interested in her dress. Unlike Galran unions, Terran wedding clothes were always different so he was intrigued to see her choices.

Her dress hung in svelte lines at first, with an open clean collar that circled her neck and shoulders, sleeveless openings for her arms that sleeked to fine points at her sides, cascading into a cacophony, waves of floaty material, with what was first simple white. It burned onto his eyes as she and her father eclipsed the entryway, and as she moved into the building, something happened; her dress began to change in the low light. As she stepped from the bright outdoor light into the large ceremonial hall that had been chosen for the event, the darker shades swallowed the bright white fabric, erupting throughout the gauzy fabric like a trillion stars had been captured for its weave. 

What had been simple elegant fabric now became a cosmos framed in starlight; the transformation had breathed awe throughout the crowd, Keith included. The hem shone brightest, its twinkles of stardust erupting up through the fabric in sheens of purple, pink and blue, and a few patches of copper green like the nebulas that he’d called home for most of his life. The change reminded him of what she was giving up—a home, a planet, her own species, her family—for her own chance to reach her goals, further her studies and research, but she didn’t look like she was giving anything up.

Walking towards him, she looked resplendent in her own confidence and steady pace. There was no hint of doubt on her and she moved as if she had the ethereal infinity of the stars bending to her whim. She seemed to float towards him, like one of the great goddesses of old, with constellations woven through her hair as it trailed down her back, pinned into a simple style that the veil accentuated rather than covered.

Katie was an extraordinary person. He could not say he knew her intimately, or knew much of her heart and its desires, but had admired the quiet, unassuming beauty she beheld. The parts of her mind that had brought her success, fired her insatiable curiosity, and showed her worth—the person he knew her to be.

** **

They had reached the altar now and the Admiral was openly sobbing. He put one of Katie’s hands into Keith’s and she chuckled, leaning up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “Thanks Dad,” she whispered. “I’m okay, I promise.”

It seemed as though the slower pace had been for the Admiral to give his own check in with his daughter, and Keith somewhat dumbly took her hands as the Admiral did just that, his wife already handing him a handkerchief as he approached the front benches where their close families were seated. 

Not for the first time, Keith noted how small her hands were as her fingers slid into his. Her wrists were bare of any ornament, and she carried a small gem bouquet, from the same gardens that had provided the decorations. The glimmer of her dress refracted through them, lighting up her face even more, and the glow from his armour was probably helping. His thoughts were spiralled again, consumed suddenly by nerves; at that moment he realised that he’d been entrusted with far more than what Katie had stated in the treaty. 

Which of course he had. This was a union, a partnership. He knew that their relationship could not be paper only, which was why he had tried to make an effort since he first met Katie through a hail-call on a broken ship in the middle of rift-torn space. It was just much more in person than it was in his head. 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, people of all worlds, we have gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union and marriage of Katie Holt, and Keith Hawkins of House Marmora…” The officiant began and Katie raised an eyebrow. 

“No titles?” she whispered.

“They have no place in unification ceremonies. Both parties are equal, even more so before the Kral Zera’s flame,” he explained quietly, his thumbs running across her knuckles as the officiant (who he really ought to be listening to; he would need the guidance for this part of the ceremony) continued to talk over their hushed conversation.

The Archivist had brought a sample of the flame for the ceremonies he was more familiar with, and it flickered gently on the altar, as if in silent approval.

Katie nodded in understanding, though she still seemed concerned. “Are you alright? You seem a bit dazed. The sun didn’t bother you too much, did it?”

“My eyes are well,” he promised. “I…” Keith wondered which words explained himself best. “…I feel like you’re dazzling me right now,” he settled on. “I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but I think I could be happy with you Katie. I’m glad it’s you I’m marrying.”

He hoped that the flush that blossomed on Katie’s face didn’t mean he’d been too forward or had crossed a boundary of some kind. They were the best and most sincere words he could manage at that moment.

“I think I could be happy with you too, Keith,” Katie said finally, still flushing, yet smiling all the same. Keith felt his ears perk up with relief. If she was smiling, then he hadn’t said something wrong.

Then they turned back to the priest and the Archivist, letting their attention go back to the ceremony, hands intertwined. It would take a few more years before Keith fell in love with his wife, partner, mate, but their wedding day was the catalyst, when Katie stood beside him, looking every inch the Empress she would one day be.

* * *

This artwork is by Luce-Ciel, and was included in the digital zine! You can find her on [Tumblr](https://luce-ciel.tumblr.com/post/186876753413/a-collaboration-piece-for-the-roads-untraveled) and [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/LuceCiel_Art/status/1159656264516771840?s=20) please go and reblog and love her! There was much discussion and idea flinging for Katie's wedding dress involved with this chapter and the art Luce made, and there was definitely inspiration from [THIS DRESS](https://youtu.be/fJtwsTakyJQ) from the [2016 Met Gala](https://m.hindustantimes.com/rf/image_size_640x362/HT/p2/2016/05/03/Pictures/_6e5b4af0-1125-11e6-85b5-8211428af2f6.JPG). A literal galaxy dress was the vibe, but the strapless part didn't strike me as Katie's style, so we made tweaks. <strike> honestly it was just a chance to scream at each other about sparkly Kidge wedding dresses with zero regrets involved </strike>

Galra being military get married in their ceremonial armour and Keith's is based off of Alternate-Reality-Daibazaal Sendak's armour seen in S8 E12, like [this](https://voltron.fandom.com/wiki/Sendak/Gallery?file=VLD_S8_E12_0449.jpg). He's also on the [S8 character poster](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/voltron/images/3/34/NYCC2018Poster.png/revision/latest?cb=20181219113434&format=original) opposite the happy galra royal family, in front of child Lotor and Zarkon, and below Tex and Krolia.


	12. Chapter 12

Keith didn’t remember what had happened after the ceremony. He didn’t even remember lighting the flame. 

He remembered fighting, but fresh from a pod his mind was already fogged from the induced coma required by the healing process, and slight cloudy perceptions caused by quintessence exposure to the same end.

Truly, it wouldn’t be until he had woken from his out-of-pod sleep that he would realise he had completed the first step of his life’s task. At the moment, everything felt like a haze, and only distant perceptions of his surroundings were known to him.

He knew that Ulaz commanded his staff like he did as always, with utmost precision, and effort made for every comfort and detail of his patient’s requirements. He’d been as such during each of Katies pregnancies, several childhood illnesses, and numerous editions of his own arena injuries, and fur flax outbreaks that had driven him pull his fur out in the past.

This time was no different, except for one moment.

As one of the staff on the medical ward dabbed antiseptic into one of the small cuts leftover from the pod, Keith heard a familiar set of footsteps approaching.

“Princess! Please wai- I mean, Ma’am! Your imperial highness!  _ Please! _ ” Someone who sounded like Illun said. “Your mate is well, but the Commander isn’t fin-”

“But nothing! I won’t get in his way. It’s been forty vargas! I am going to see my husband!”

Keith looked away from the soaked swab that was being pressed to his arm up towards the door just in time to see Katie stepping through it. She made her way over to him faster than Ulaz’s medical staff could catch her.

She slowed upon approaching the medical bed he’d woken in after presumably emerging from a pod, but there was still no hesitation to her movements as she climbed carefully beside him and pulled him into a warm embrace.

“Thank the stars, Keith…”

Till she spoke, or maybe till he felt the wet of tears on his fur, Keith had not realised that she was crying. It was a testament to how delirious medication had made him that he had not noticed, as the tears were not subtle. They left his mate’s throat in choked sounds that sounded like they took most of her breath to emerge, the kind that pulled the back of the throat painfully.

“Katie?” He blinked, a little dumbly. “You’re sad,” he frowned.

She pulled back, staring at him, black lines from her make up starting to crease into the lines around her eyes. He might have been high on medication and pain relief, but he could at the very least tell that her look was incredulous.

“Of course I’m upset,” she choked. “You nearly died Keith! I’m happy for you, I am, I promise, you’ve done it, and I swear once I calm down I’ll show you that I’m proud of you, but you nearly died and I was terrified I’d have to raise our kids without you, that you’d left me!” She leaned gently on his shoulder as his arms did their best to comfort her without causing too much pain to the wounds on his sides. Or was it his ribs? He wasn’t sure. “I think after all that I’m allowed to be a little emotional! Why wouldn’t I be?”

Keith did his best to process the words. In fact, he made sure to listen very carefully, mindful that his attention span was not at its best. Nor was his memory, given he didn’t even remember the Kral Zera at that particular moment.

“I’m glad I’m not dead too. I would have missed you in the astral plane,” he mumbled, pressing his lips to her cheek and hair a little sloppily. “I just… always wondered what you’d want right now, and maybe its mean, but you’re reassuring me,” he smiled, nuzzling her hair and neck until he snarled when a strain in his side stabbed him unpleasantly.

Ulaz returned, interrupting and alerting them to his presence with a slight, deliberate clearing of his throat. Katie stopped, then looked over her shoulder, and Keith smiled dopily.

“Hi Ulaz,” he slurred a little. “Katie came to see me…”

“My lord, given that your mate was so anxious following the ceremony for your care that she leapt from the imperial box before the ceremony was complete to assist you, I am unsurprised she has broken into the medical deck. The empress was most anxious to see you.”

“Katie was?” He blinked. “…I don’t remember. Katie’s an empress?”

To his dismay, his wife sat up a little, a sheepish expression but stubborn cross to her arms as she sat on the edge of the bed beside him. Ulaz sighed. “As you can see Ma’am, your mate is rather delirious. Though better than expected, he is still in a very serious condition. I need to administer some serums, if you don’t mind moving aside.”

Katie backed away quickly, letting Ulaz take Keiths arm and administer some stuff that pricked his skin through an epi-pen. “I will allow you to stay, however, I must ask you please avoid causing your mate too much excitement for his injuries to bear before he can be properly inaugurated.”

“Of course, I’m sorry Ulaz,” Katie said, waiting before curling up on the bed beside him, careful not to lean against his chest and shoulder as she normally would. Ulaz watched, but seemed satisfied.

“As I said, I was unsurprised. I was impressed with how well you managed the descent to the arena floor. My daughter’s influence?”

“She and Acxa have been helping me keep my combat skills up to date,” Katie smiled. Keith thought it was a pretty smile. A dopey noise left his throat and he reached out an arm towards her.

“I have given your mate a serum that will help him remain clear-headed for a little while whilst the medication takes its effect my lord, my lady,” he said once he’d finished with a small injection, as well as the rest of his checks, saluted, and left them in private.

Katie waited until he’d left, footsteps distant beyond the pneumatic door to the private ward, before turning her attention back to him. 

“What do you mean?” She asked, lying back down so that he could cuddle her properly. “You’re happy I’m crying?”

“Not that,” Keith said. “That you came.” He smiled, limply flopping his hand into hers. 

She blinked, confused and surprised. “Of course I came, why wouldn’t I?”

Keith absently wondered if he was bright minded enough to voice his worries, but in the end, decided that he owed their relationship honesty now more than ever. “We’ve been unified for over ten Terran years,” he said. “The Kral Zera is over. I… was unsure if after the distress the preparations caused you that you would wish to remain as such. The contract made you required to stay up till that point but…” he frowned, not sure where his words were really going. “After the distress the Kral Zera cause you, I would not be surprised if the tasks of being an Empress were too much for you to bear.”

Katie stared at him. “You thought I was going to divorce you if you became emperor?” She asked. “Because of the treaty… you thought I was only tolerating it until I had a choice to leave again?”

“Not because of any disagreement in our personal relationship, but rather a contrast in ideals and heritage,” Keith mumbled. 

He really wasn’t sure he should be talking about all of this, but he didn’t like lying, especially to Katie. He made it a point not to, and now that his thoughts were in the open air, he ought to make sure they all flew free. Or at least, while he felt brave enough to do so in the cocktail of medicine, pain killers, and whatever Ulaz had given him to give him a modicum of clear thought.

“We are separate species, and I would have understood if you decided now that living in the Galra empire wasn’t something you could do permanently, and we had arrangements in place for such a scenario already. I would be unhappy, but I wouldn’t stop you,” he mumbled into her hair.

Katie had a grip on his arm, and her fingers tightened around his forearm, leaning up and into a gentle, firm kiss. “We will talk about this more when you’re not high on medication following your insane battle to the death cultural ritual, but I’m not going anywhere Keith. I married you, not the piece of paper that brought us together.

“Once you’re feeling better, we can talk about that quintessence serum that I’m entitled to, if we’re sticking to the treaty,” she said softly. “And since we’re on the subject, I think we should get my citizenship sorted too, now that the ceremony is over…”

Keith blinked at her, not following. She didn’t want to leave - that was good - but what was she talking about? Citizenship? Oh. Yes, he did remember that the Kral Zera was a caveat to Katie’s legal status within the empire, set out by her own planet’s interstellar command. She wanted to change it?

Sniffling drew his attention and he realised she was crying again. “Thank the stars it’s over,” she mumbled, and Keith did his best to put an arm around her. “You lit the flame and then you collapsed…” she sobbed. “I thought you were gone Keith!”

Had he done that? Keith didn’t remember. In a few days he would, but for now he needed rest, and to know that his wife wasn’t sad. He didn’t like that.

“I wouldn’t leave you unless you wanted me to,” he mumbled. “I love you.”

The words did nothing to make the situation any better. In fact, they just made Katie cry a bit more, but the discomfort and worry in the air had dissipated, and strangely, it felt safe enough to drift back to sleep.

“I love you too, and I promise, I’m not leaving you. Ever,” Katie said.

She tucked herself close enough that Ulaz might have frowned for a moment, had he been there to judge how close was too close for the blood and battle fresh new emperor he was trying to heal. 

“Once you’re better we should probably start telling each other that more often. Get some rest, okay?” She continued, running a hand through the thicker, fluffier fur that matched his hair around his ears, and doing nothing to help him remain awake. “I’ll be here when you wake up, and I’ll get the kids. They’ve been wanting to see you all night. But sleep now, okay?”

Keith nodded, leaning into Katie’s soothing touches. Somehow, everything ached more than he remembered from the fight (which he only remembered because Ulaz had told him), and for the moment, whatever insecurities he had were calmed and reassured.

“Later?” he asked, to be sure, as he began to fall asleep again.

“Later,” she promised, and the warmth and care in the word was all he needed to rest.


	13. Chapter 13

The Daibazaal Destruction Zone, or DDZ, was a forlorn silent part of space.

It existed on the edge of the sectors inhabited almost entirely by the rift entities, and upon landing at the military base which had been set up by House Drule after the central rift had torn the planet to static meteorites and space dust, Katie could help but find the place eerie.

The window from their private quarters looked over the ruins of the former capital, Zeppo. It had once been the seat of power for first major dynasty in the Imperial Electorate. Now the buildings were crumbling wrecks, still charred from the rift’s radiated effects, and haunted by small entities.

The air was unbreathable, and the plants were gone. Only the rift entities remained.

To think, in another world, this would have been her home. No-one remembered what Daibazaal looked like. Images of retained in Altean historical archives however, and it had been beautiful. Would the Galra have still been the empire they were now? Would she even be standing here now?

Staring out of the window instead of completing her research on the rift suits, two years after the Kral Zera, Katie could only wonder. A knock on the door brought her out of the curiosities of alternate realities, and she tapped a command into the computer to unlock the door. “Yes?” she asked Regris when he entered the room.

Zethrid had taken a year of leave to try and start a family with her own mate, and the boy had been the only one who had passed the galra woman’s very strict replacement exam. He’d lost a fang, but Zethrid had been satisfied, and her seriousness in ensuring a competent stand-in for Katie’s body-guard was the best compliment she could have ever given her human charge.

“Your imperial highness, the ship will be arriving in the next fifteen dobashes; the Emperor has requested your presence in the hangar.”

Katie almost teleported from the chair such was her haste from the room, with her poor bodyguard rushing to keep up with her as she hurried from the imperial suite along the halls of the facility. 

The ARUS settlement was one of the few land based architectures the Galra had, and their inexperience with planet-based was clear in the buildings design. 

By the time katie arrived at the hangar, the windows into the vast six-storey space revealed the large, ancient Altean Castleship slowly descending onto the ground, and the airlock above it closed just as she skidded onto the viewing deck , beside Keith, hair frayed around her face (and poor Regris gasping for breath behind her).

“It’s huge!” she gasped. “I can’t believe it still works. Did it take any damage in the atmosphere?” she asked, taking the datapad keith wordlessly handed her. “Where are the kids?”

“Kian is in his lessons. Kyle and Kallie are with my Father. Kosmo took them to him a few minutes ago,” he said. “There appear to be some minor knocks and bumps, but nothing that threatens the structure,” Keith said. “Hunk said something about the atmospheric regulators, but I admit, his language was beyond my scope.”

The castle landed, and the centre began to glow. Katie had to admire it. After thousands of years it still ran so smoothly that it stood up to warp infested space. Altean engineering and architecture would probably have been her second choice of study if she hadn’t fallen in love with the Galra empire first (literally).

“And… the lions?”

Keith glanced at her once then nodded, stepping towards the lift down to the landing bay. Katie’s mind was reeling with excitement, and she could already see Hunk talking animatedly with Lance and Shiro as she followed; _ Voltron _. 

Daibazaal’s destruction had been dealt at the hands of Emperor Zarkon, a man so in love the rift had driven him to madness, taking the King of Altea and three others for dead along with him. King Alfor’s daughter and Emperor Lotor, Keith’s great-grandfather, had spent the time between their heated love affair using Altean alchemy and the Lions of Voltron, along with their allies, to seal the growing rift within the area now known as the DDZ.

That zone was beginning to weaken, threatening more galaxies and solar systems each and every day. Steps had been in process for the last few years to take the final step, and close the rift at its source.

Katie didn’t know if using the lions to close the rift would work. They hadn’t chosen Paladins in aeons, but if the rift continued to spread, there would be no existence left to live in. It was a joint effort with many other planets–Olkarion, Bytan, Terra, Altea and several Balmeran colonies to name a few–and while it wasn’t their only defence mechanism against the void that wanted to consume the universe, there was something magical and inspiring in it. 

Even if it was completely top secret.

Lance saw them approaching and he grinned, tossing his cape over his shoulder as he waved. “It’s good to see you again!”

“Lance,” Keith nodded. “Any updates?”

Lance’s face looked a little distant as he nodded. 

“They’re all present and accounted for,” He nodded absently. “You know, when Veronica brought this to Emperor Kolivan, I wasn’t certain about it but I… I don't know… I think we might be able to do this after all!” he his words breathing wonder, like he was still in the throes of reverent experience. Maybe he was.

A purr echoed, seeming from the ship, and Katie itched. To go in and examine, to learn, to see. No other material like that of the Voltron lions existed, and Lance’s words just made her ever more eager. Even Keith and Hunk were staring at the ship in a little wonder.

“Can we see them?” she asked.

Shiro too looked a little distance as he beckoned them to follow. “This way,” he said, leading them into the ancient interior of the ship.

The giant spaceship put a sense of awe in Katie as she walked inside just in front of Keith, her eyes wandering at the arches and automated blue toned lights. The very structure was something from Altean history, and the sense it gave her was a quiet kind of awe, making her fall back and reach out for her husband’s hand. He too was looking around the castle, though his face winced predictably when Lance made comments about being ‘_ inside Lotor and Allura’s love nest’ _.

“Wait, something’s not right…” Hunk frowned, causing them all to pause in the spiraling walkway, his eyes glued to the scanner in his hand, with disbelief on his face as he slowly traced it through the air, checking the readings several times. “I… I’m picking up Altean lifesigns…”

“Well I am standing–”

“Not _ you _ Lance,” Hunk shook his head. “I mean, I thought it was at first, so I switched off your bio signals off from my scanner. But it’s not. I know for a fact that there are no other Alteans that were involved in the transport. It was top secret, and there were no security breaches…” he said. “Someone’s still alive on this ship.”

They exchanged gazes, disbelieving but unwilling to doubt Hunk’s readings.

“Hunk’s right about the security; there were no issues during the transport,” Keith said. “And there were no incidents with any rift entities or space creatures during the journey. Where are the life signs coming from?”

Hunk frowned, sending the signal to his datapads, squinting at the tracker that was placed into the digital map of the castleship. He held the map up to lance and raised an eyebrow. “Any idea where this might be? Ancient Altean architecture isn’t my specialty.”

Lance snorted, then squinted at the diagram. “It looks like part of the medical wing…?” he guessed. “I think these types of exploration ships utilised Cryogenic healing. It could be a malfunction?”

“We should investigate all the same,” Shiro reasoned. “The last thing we need is a rogue entity or unknown malfunction damaging the ship and the lions after we’ve finally found it.”

“Agreed,” Katie nodded, and with that, they followed Lance through the halls.

It took some time to make their way down to the castle’s medical wing. Like the rest of the ship, it was vaulted with metal arches, white walls, and gleaming aqua toned lights. It was almost a little too bright for her eyes, which katie put down to the effects of the quintessence serums she’d recently decided to take.

Ulaz had explained that a little galra dna was also in the mix, so that her ageing would match that of keiths more, and as a result, a few slight changes would occur. Her vision was so far the only thing that had changed. Brighter lights bothered her a little more, and the light on the ship made her miss the low, warm colours of the GCS.

When they reached the medical rooms, she saw nothing of any obvious note or danger, and they all entered warily.Hunk held up his scanner, wandering ahead of them, the beeping getting louder and louder and more high pitched as he approached a central command pillar.

“There’s definitely something here… but I don't see anything?” he looked to the Altean prince again. “Lance?”

“This is the cryochamber,” he said walking up to the control panel, his face pinching as he translated the Ancient Altean. “It’s is locked to old command genetics, but since this is a royal command ship I might be able to…” he tapped a few buttons and put his palm on the screen. 

The jolt of machinery around them made them all start; cylindrical tubes, frosted with cold air, rose from the floor, and Katie felt Keith’s back pressing against her shoulder; she didn’t have to look to know his fingers were on the handle of his Luxite blade. Her own had already gone to the short angled, katar-shaped Luxite blade she’d been given during the Galran part of her wedding.

One of the frosted chambers had begun to his clouds of chilled gas and steam as it decompressed. Behind her she could hear Lance’s gobsmacked exclamations–‘_ Ancients of Oriande, someone’s still inside! _’–and after the decompression had completed there was a crack as the pod forcefield faded, cracking the remains of the ice inside.

The smoke faded and a woman with the same white hair as their altean companion, pink marks, and sleek Altean-style armour, accented in her race’s colours of mourning, tumbled from the pod. Lance rushed out to catch her, the amazement and confusion on his face equivalent to that of everyone else as they stared at a figure known simply from historical video logs and data compilations.

She looked up towards her, no to Keith, her face clouded with confusion. “Lotor?” she asked, then she frowned. “No, wait, you're not my husband… though you look like him...” the Princess Allura asked, once Lance had helped her to her feet, familiar markings and ears probably more reassuring than anyone else would have been. “What happened to Lotor? Who are you, and what are you doing on my ship?”

Katie nudged her husband with her elbow, staring at the Altean woman as her hand dropped from her blade. “The undead princess is talking to you honey,” she reminded him in a hushed whisper. “You’re up.”

Keith her an injured look, then–rubbing his side–he cleared his throat.

“Hopefully you can tell us,” he started. “My name is Keith, 37th Emperor of the Galra Empire,” he started, his hand landing on her shoulder. “This is my mate, Katie Holt, originally of Terran Communication and Science Division Command.” He nodded to Hunk. “Beside us is Hunk Galuvao, A Terran Engineer and Ambassador for the Balmeran Vox Colony, and the Bytor beside him is Takashi Shirogane, Flight Admiral of Bytan’s Interstellar Command. He looked finally to his ‘_ cousin _’, who still stood beside the princess from Kallie’s bedtime stories. “...and the Altean beside you is Prince Lance of Altea... your great-great grandson.”

The princess looked around at them all in disbelief, and rushed to control panel, tapping out more commands, before her dark skin paled at whatever she found. “It truly has been ten thousand years?” she asked, dismay in her voice. One of the other pods opened up, and she turned back to face them all. “What happened to the Rift? The lions?”

“The rift was successfully closed,” Lance said gently, watching as she helped the orange-haired man–‘_ Princess? What’s going on? Where is your partner? Who are these people? _’–who fell from the second pod to his feet. “Emperor Lotor managed to escape the rift with the castle ship but… our history says he was exposed to too much quintessence and he died a few years after hiding this ship.”

“Galran history is mostly the same,” Shiro confirmed apologetically. “But the rift is weakening. The Voltron Alliance thought it might be possible to find a way to strengthen it in the castleship archives, or with the lions themselves, which is how we found you Princess,” he added respectfully.

“I suppose after ten thousand years the spell would weaken…” the princess said wryly. “...and if you were examining the ship, it is no surprise you found our lifesigns. Where is the ship now?”

“The ruins of Daibazaal,” Keith said. “It’s the closest, marginally safe place within the DDZ to the rift itself, and it made sense to bring the castle as close as was safely possible.”

“Indeed,” the princess mused. “But the lions will be useless to you without paladins.”

Keith winced; that was a fact they had already had to put down as problem number two to tackle. it had been hard enough just finding the ship in the first place. Most species didn’t believe it to have existed at all.

“Princess, I know this must be a disorientating experience for you,” Lance said carefully. “But you sealed the rift, and gave us the chance to buy time, defend countless planets as our technology grew, but the rift… it has grown too, and we are all starting to run out of options,” Lance said. “One of Altea’s colonies has been lost, and the Galra are slowly suffering from the effects of rift exposure. They are the main military defence against the rift entities, and their species is dying from it. Other planets too; the rift may break again in a matter of months, and our technology has reached its limit. Please, you have secrets of Altean Alchemy that saved us once. Can you help us finish what you and Emperor Lotor started?”

The princess listened to him, her face blank as her great-grandson appealed to her, looking around at them all, and then the scanners she had pulled up of the torn, ruptured, ruined planet they stood upon, the moving figures that scanned for entity activity.

“...I will help you all that I can,” she said finally, and Katie let out the breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding. “The lions will be useless without paladins to pilot them, but I will be of some assistance to you there,” she added, with a bluntless that was probably a trait beholden to rulers across the universe. “Before Zarkon fell to madness, my father bound the lions to my life force; I can find the paladins you seek for the lions, then perhaps we can work together to close the rift once and for all.”

“That sounds great, fantastic,” Hunk beamed. “How exactly are you going to do that, and how long will it take?” Shiro shot him a frown, crossing all eight of his arms. “Hey, it’s a valid question! if I need to build equipment I need to brush up on my Altean engineering first!”

“We can worry about that later Hunk,” Katie said, interrupting before the stress of the unexpected situation started an argument. “We should let them rest before pestering. How would you like waking up to a bunch of strangers ten thousand years into the future?”

“I’m grateful for your kindness your highness,” the princess smiled at her. 

“Pidge or Katie, please” she begged quickly. “It’s been over ten years, and I’m still not used to the diplomacy.”

“Pidge,” Allura corrected herself, smiling a little at the invitation to more familiar names. “I’m grateful, but your companion asks important questions, and in fact...” she eyes them all one by one, slow and deliberate in her gaze, a glow in the markings on her cheeks.

Something like a rumble echoed through the castle, and Katie felt the energy of life, the insistent lick of fire, steady ground, the water in her blood, and the opportunity in the stars in the sound. Then it came again. Loud. Clearer. A roar that seemed to echo five-fold.

“...I’m happy to say it will not take me any time at all.”

* * *

And we're full circle. I have so many headcannons that I never got the chance to include in this 'oneshot', as it was originally designed. SO. MANY. <strike> I could honestly turn this into a full fic but lets not go down that rabbit hole we'll never get out again </strike>

Trying to keep the print Section under a page count–and the digital a reasonable length–was a task I'm still not sure I managed. Does 27K count as reasonable? Probably not XD

In any case, I have plenty of ideas still left for this universe. I doubt I'll add to the story, bc this IS a Zine piece, but headcannons? I'm all for screaming about those, so if anyone has any questions, hit me up on[Tumblr](https://kidge-kat.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Ncj700).

Hope everyone enjoyed this story. I know I'm glad to have another completed fic on my profile <strike> 2 down, who knows how many to go _cries _</strike>

Thank you for taking the time to read this work!

Natalie x


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